America offers Sh26bn boost for clean energy

The US government will invest more than Sh26 billion towards the generation of clean energy in Olkaria.

Michael Froman, the White House advisor on international economics, said that the  money will be used to expand the Olkaria3 geothermal power plant.
This will enable the plant, run by  Orpower Generation company, to double its capacity from 52 to 102 megawatts.

Mr Froman was speaking in Naivasha when he led ten officials from the White House on a tour of the plant.

He said the US would invest more towards energy production in sub-Saharan Africa under the Overseas Private Investment Corporation. “We want to ensure that the energy that is produced will not affect the people negatively in the years to come,” he said.

The US ambassador to Kenya, Scott Gration, said security was key to attracting investors and accelerating growth.

“Everyone should be given a secure environment to earn a living if the country is to expand economically,” he said.

KenGen geothermal production manager Godfrey Muchemi said Kenya needed to generate at least five times more energy than it was producing now.
The firm intends to launch a 280MW geothermal power project at a cost of Sh92.4 billion starting with the drilling of Olkaria1 and Olkaria4.