The dusty town of Naivasha sits within the Great Rift Valley, where the African continent is being divided into 2. About 90 km northwest of Kenya’s capital city of Nairobi, Naivasha welcomes gaggles of tourists each year trekking to Hell’s Gate National Park. The forces that are splitting apart the African tectonic plate have sculpted the area’s steep cliffs, plummeting valleys and undulating hills a rugged landscape that inspired the backdrop of Disney’s The Lion King.
Those forces have also made Naivasha the frontier of Kenya’s geothermal power industry.
The country’s first geothermal well was drilled there in the 1950s. By 1981, Kenya had its first geothermal power plant, harnessing a renewable resource that taps into heat generated deep within the Earth. Today, Naivasha’s Olkaria geothermal power project plus a small facility at another site are capable of generating 963 MW of electricity when running at full power.
At the end of last year, Kenya ranked seventh on the list of top geothermal energy countries in the world. Geothermal accounts for 47% of the country’s total energy production a percentage that’s growing. The only other geothermal energy producer in Africa, Ethiopia, started production in 1998 and has an installed capacity of just 7.5 MW.
But regional interest is growing, especially as Africa works toward universal energy access by year 2030, in accordance with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. A 2021 analysis by the Dalberg consulting firm in partnership with the U.N. showed that there’s enough renewable energy potential to power Africa’s energy needs well into the future, though the up-front costs would be higher than if fossil fuels were used to meet those energy demands.
If African countries pursue renewable energy to meet their electricity goals, the up-front cost would be US$1.5 trillion, about 50% more than the US$1 trillion that fossils fuels would require, says James Mwangi, formerly of Dalberg and founder of the group Climate Action Platform for Africa. But thanks to lower operating and maintenance costs, renewables eventually pay off. In one scenario in the Dalberg analysis, a renewable-heavy future would take 13 years or so to break even with one where fossil fuels are still heavily used.
With the renewables route, Mwangi says, “Africa could reach universal energy access much faster and ultimately have the lowest energy costs in the world.” The localized nature of renewable sources, compared with often-imported fossil fuels, could also enhance energy security and independence.
In East Africa, geothermal energy is an attractive option. It’s abundant thanks to the East African Rift System, which brings heat toward the surface. Like other renewable energies such as wind and solar, geothermal doesn’t emit carbon dioxide. And it comes with extra benefits. “Geothermal power is reliable,” says Anna Mwangi, senior geophysicist at the Kenya Electricity Generating Company, or KenGen, the government entity that operates Olkaria. Geothermal sources are available night and day, and don’t depend on the sun, wind or rain. So geothermal energy may be more resilient to climate change than some other renewables.
But setting up geothermal power plants requires more money and specialized expertise than other renewable energies. And like any development project, it can come with social costs, such as displacing people from their land.
Given its long-standing experience, Kenya is now assisting its neighbours. “We are offering technical support to the countries in the region, as a way to help them develop their geothermal potential,” says Anna Mwangi. KenGen has already drilled multiple geothermal wells in Ethiopia and Djibouti.
East Africa has the potential to generate a lot of electricity from this renewable source
The dusty town of Naivasha sits within the Great Rift Valley, where the African continent is being divided into 2. About 90 km northwest of Kenya’s capital city of Nairobi, Naivasha welcomes gaggles of tourists each year trekking to Hell’s Gate National Park. The forces that are splitting apart the African tectonic plate have sculpted the area’s steep cliffs, plummeting valleys and undulating hills a rugged landscape that inspired the backdrop of Disney’s The Lion King.
Those forces have also made Naivasha the frontier of Kenya’s geothermal power industry.
The country’s first geothermal well was drilled there in the 1950s. By 1981, Kenya had its first geothermal power plant, harnessing a renewable resource that taps into heat generated deep within the Earth. Today, Naivasha’s Olkaria geothermal power project plus a small facility at another site are capable of generating 963 MW of electricity when running at full power.
At the end of last year, Kenya ranked seventh on the list of top geothermal energy countries in the world. Geothermal accounts for 47% of the country’s total energy production a percentage that’s growing. The only other geothermal energy producer in Africa, Ethiopia, started production in 1998 and has an installed capacity of just 7.5 MW.
But regional interest is growing, especially as Africa works toward universal energy access by year 2030, in accordance with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. A 2021 analysis by the Dalberg consulting firm in partnership with the U.N. showed that there’s enough renewable energy potential to power Africa’s energy needs well into the future, though the up-front costs would be higher than if fossil fuels were used to meet those energy demands.
If African countries pursue renewable energy to meet their electricity goals, the up-front cost would be US$1.5 trillion, about 50% more than the US$1 trillion that fossils fuels would require, says James Mwangi, formerly of Dalberg and founder of the group Climate Action Platform for Africa. But thanks to lower operating and maintenance costs, renewables eventually pay off. In one scenario in the Dalberg analysis, a renewable-heavy future would take 13 years or so to break even with one where fossil fuels are still heavily used.
With the renewables route, Mwangi says, “Africa could reach universal energy access much faster and ultimately have the lowest energy costs in the world.” The localized nature of renewable sources, compared with often-imported fossil fuels, could also enhance energy security and independence.
In East Africa, geothermal energy is an attractive option. It’s abundant thanks to the East African Rift System, which brings heat toward the surface. Like other renewable energies such as wind and solar, geothermal doesn’t emit carbon dioxide. And it comes with extra benefits. “Geothermal power is reliable,” says Anna Mwangi, senior geophysicist at the Kenya Electricity Generating Company, or KenGen, the government entity that operates Olkaria. Geothermal sources are available night and day, and don’t depend on the sun, wind or rain. So geothermal energy may be more resilient to climate change than some other renewables.
But setting up geothermal power plants requires more money and specialized expertise than other renewable energies. And like any development project, it can come with social costs, such as displacing people from their land.
Given its long-standing experience, Kenya is now assisting its neighbours. “We are offering technical support to the countries in the region, as a way to help them develop their geothermal potential,” says Anna Mwangi. KenGen has already drilled multiple geothermal wells in Ethiopia and Djibouti.
