Geothermal Development Company (GDC) has struck Kenya’s second largest geothermal well.
This new development will boost Kenya's plan have clean energy and increase power generation capacity to 5,000 megawatts by the end of 2016.
The well has a production capacity of 29.6MW and was drilled at Menengai geothermal field to a depth of 2,100 metres.
GDC Managing Director Silas Simiyu said drilling of the well was completed last week and underlines the huge potential for geothermal power in Kenya.
He stated that they had reached the heat at a very low table which indicated than the geothermal heat in Menengai is shallow compared to Olkaria
“Already three IPPS have been signed by GDC to generate 105MW from the Menengai project. In Menengai, Kenya has already invested more than USD1 Billion which has gone into the purchase of seven deep drilling rigs and development of 115MW of steam with the drilling of more wells continuing,” he added.
KenGen in February unveiled a 30MW geothermal well in Olkaria, the biggest steam well in Africa, drilled to a depth of 3,000 metres.
GDC was formed in 2008 as a special purpose vehicle to accelerate the development of geothermal resources by bearing the risk of drilling steam wells and providing steam to power producers for electricity generation.
President Uhuru Kenyatta is banking on steam power to lower the cost of power of electricity to Sh9.10 (¢10.45) per kilowatt hour from the current average of Sh17.20 (¢19.78) per unit