Tata Chemicals Magadi Soda Limited (TCML) is set to triple the capacity of its soda ash factory in Magadi, Kajiado County in a Sh3.61billion($28 million) expansion drive, buoyed by improving global demand for the commodity.
As part of the project, TCML will expand and upgrade its trona soda ash manufacturing plant to handle 1 million tonnes of product per annum, up from 300,000 tonnnes presently.
“There are associated facilities in this project and include the 10MW (Mega Watt) solar power plant to be constructed and used for supply of energy,” the company said.
“The construction activities are planned to take approximately 18-24 months including pre-commissioning and commissioning phases. Currently, it is foreseen that the main construction activities will start in the third quarter of 2025 and will be concluded with the start-up of the plant in mid-2027,” TCML, which is part of the global Tata Group added in a disclosure.
The expansion comes amid steady growth in demand for soda ash driven by consumption in China. Market data shows that in 2023, the global demand for soda ash grew by 2.7 percent or 1.8 million tonnes—mainly fueled by China users.
Demand for soda ash is projected to grow buoyed by automotive glass, and construction glass. The demand for the commodity is also fueled by a bigger uptake of solar glass as bigger populations of households, corporations, and industrialists turn to solar power to cut costs and achieve a reliable and steady power supply.
This provides a boon for soda ash producers who may capitalise on the demand through expanded production because the global output of the commodity had been largely static in the four years to 2022, hurt by the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
TCML said that in line with the expansion, it plans to install new larger dredgers to help recover bigger volumes of raw material from the surface of Lake Magadi.
