Uhuru's Projects Place Kenya 7th in New Global Rankings

President Uhuru Kenyatta Speaking during his radio interview at State House Nairobi on April 7, 2020.
President Uhuru Kenyatta Speaking during his radio interview at State House Nairobi on April 7, 2020.
PSCU

Kenya beat out Italy to rank 7th globally in the production of geothermal power across the globe.

The new global rankings were reflected in the Renewable Capacity Statistics for the year 2020 published the previous week by the International Renewable Energy Agency.

The rankings were based on the different capacity of each country with Kenya's increased capacity of 823MW beating out Italy's 800MW.

A geothermal power plant.
A geothermal power plant.
Daily Nation

Kenya was the only country shortlisted and leads Africa in the production of geothermal energy. 

Across the globe, the US leads in capacity with 2,555MW followed by Indonesia with 2231mw, the Philippines comes in third with 1,928MW with Turkey's 1515MW landing it 4th.

Kenya is on track to join the club of 4 countries with an installed 1000MW capacity or greater.

Kenya's leap was credited to the addition of the largest geothermal capacity in the world which allowed it to move from the ninth position and join the world giants.

Geothermal power accounts for 30% of Kenya's installed electrical capacity of 2,700MW with hydropower, wind, solar and thermal power accounting for the remaining 70%.

Kenya constructed its first geothermal station in 1981 dubbed Olkaria one.

KenGen which owns and operates 85% of Kenya's installed capacity recently added Olkaria V with a 165.4MW capacity to the national grid. 

The country currently contributes 6% of the world's global installed capacity which stands at 13, 931MW.

Kenya has an untapped potential of 10,000MW of geothermal energy in Rift Valley where exploration continues. 

Watch a video of Kenya's geothermal stations below:

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