Kenya goes green thanks to geothermal energy and aims for 100% renewable electricity by 2030

COP28 has been taking place for a week in Dubai with the aim of finding solutions to limit global warming. Kenya has found a way to have electricity coming from 87% renewable energies, notably thanks to geothermal energy.

Located about a hundred kilometers from Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, the Olkaria geothermal complex is the pride of the country. Geothermal energy provides more than 43% of the country’s electricity and the majority thanks to this Olkaria site. While COP28 is in full swing in Dubai, Kenya is setting an example in the field of green energies with, in 2022, 87% of its electricity coming from renewable energies. The ambition is even to reach 100% by 2030.

Within the Olkaria geothermal complex, heat extracted from the depths of the earth is used to generate electricity. In the room of one of the site’s five power plants, the turbines are running at full speed. “This turbine turns thanks to water vapor, explains Sarah Gichonge, mechanical engineer. It is connected to a generator and this is what produces electricity. We can see the rotation point in between, it’s rotating very fast. Once the water vapor allowed the turbine to spin, it lost its energy. It therefore goes into a condenser which cools it and transforms it into liquid which is reinjected into the earth’s crust. Once at depth, it is heated there and comes out again in steam..

If it is exploited in a reasoned manner, the resource has no limits. Kenya is privileged because the country is crossed by the Rift Valley where the movements of tectonic plates bring steam to the surface. Fumaroles even escape from the rock outdoors. Anna Mwangi is a geophysicist at KenGen, the parastatal company which manages the majority of the site : “These fumaroles represent the first indication that we are in an active geothermal zone. Geophysicists, like me, then come to study them to indicate where to dig in order to recover the heat”.

Kenya’s geothermal potential is far from being fully exploited, but finding financing is a challenge. “It’s a sector that requires a lot of capital”says Anna Mwangi.

“To dig a single well in the ground, it takes six million dollars”

Anna Mwangi, geophysicist

at franceinfo

“Sometimes it happens that we dig and find nothing because we needed to check if the geothermal resource was indeed present. But after 12-13 approximately years, halfway through the life of the plant, we reach a break-even point and start making profits“, continues the geophysicist.

Two additional power plants are already under development in Olkaria. Tuesday 21 November, before the European Parliament, Kenyan President William Ruto called for more investments to finance the development of this sector in Africa. According to him, the continent represents “the largest reservoir of renewable energy in the world”.