According to Renewable Capacity Statistics 2020 prepared by Abu Dhabi-based International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), Kenya has moved to position seven globally in geothermal power generating capacity.
Kenya beats Italy, the birthplace of geothermal technology which is ranked 8th with 800MW geothermal capacity.
Kenya’s geothermal capacity is owned and operated by state-owned power producer Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen). Kengen’s installed geothermal power capacity stands at 612 MW with more projects set to be rolled out soon.
Kenya’s improvement in the IRENA rankings is due to the completion of Olkaria V geothermal plant.
“Geothermal power capacity grew by 682 MW in 2019 (globally), slightly more than in 2018. Again, Turkey led with an expansion of 232 MW, followed by Indonesia (+185 MW) and Kenya (+160 MW),” IRENA said in its update.
The US has the largest geothermal generating capacity with 2,555 megawatts followed by Indonesia (2131 MW), Philipines (1928 MW), Turkey (1515 MW), New Zealand (965 MW), Mexico (936 MW), Italy (800 MW), Iceland (753 MW) and Japan 525 MW.
