Kenya’s power producing giant inks deal to offer geothermal well drilling services in Ethiopia

KenGen's Secretary & Director of Legal Affairs Paul Ndungi (left) and CEO Rebecca Miano (right) signing the deal (PHOTO: KenGen)

Kenya Electricity Generating Company PLC (KenGen) won a multi-million dollar contract bid to offer drilling services to Ethiopia for a geothermal energy project

By Macharia Kamau (The Standard)

The Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen) will drill geothermal wells for a power project in Ethiopia.
The Horn of Africa country has recently accelerated its efforts to tap its geothermal electricity potential.

In a major boost to KenGen’s diversification of revenue streams, the company will earn around 175.5 million ETB (~6.2 million USD) by drilling wells for Ethiopia Electric Power (EEP).

The power producer has in the recent past tried to grow its revenue streams to cut its reliance on the traditional sale of electricity to Kenya Power.

Among the key areas it is looking at is offering drilling services to local and regional firms that plan to produce power through geothermal steam.

“As we extend our services to Ethiopia, we are leveraging on our expertise, in-depth knowledge of the African Rift Valley and close to four decades of successful drilling experience,” said KenGen Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Rebecca Miano.

Related: Ethiopian Electric Power signs deal to develop 70 MW geothermal energy project

Ms Miano signed an agreement with her EPP’s CEO, Abraham Belay, PhD, during the weekend. KenGen had bid to drill the wells with a consortium, Shandong Kerui Group of China.

Dr. Abrahem said Ethiopia had tried to venture into geothermal development since 1981, but had yet to make a commercial breakthrough.

“Currently, we have some geothermal drilling rigs that are idle and now broken down, therefore the need to purchase new ones,” he said.

Read the complete story at The Standard
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2 Comments

  1. The caption is not correct. The person in the photo is not Ethiopia Electric Power’s CEO, Abraham Belay. He is Paul Ndungi of KenGen.

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