OPIC Board Approves $310 Million for Geothermal Project in Kenya
September 22, 2011
(OPIC)
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Board of Directors of
the Overseas Private Investment Corporation
(OPIC), the U.S. Government’s development
finance institution, today approved up to $310
million in financing for a project that will
double the generating capacity of a geothermal
power plant in Kenya, adding new electricity to
the country’s grid through the use of
environmentally-friendly American technology,
and creating both American and Kenyan jobs in
the process.
In so doing, the project will support the
Kenyan Government’s effort to develop country’s
extensive geothermal resources in order to
reduce reliance on hydroelectric power
generation and provide low-cost base load
energy. Considered one of the most
environmentally friendly power-generating
technologies, geothermal power production emits
negligible greenhouse gases and other air
pollutants.
OrPower 4, Inc., a subsidiary of Ormat
Technologies, Inc. a Nevada-based company, will
use the OPIC loan to add up to 52 megawatts of
generating capacity to the existing 48 MW
Olkaria geothermal plant in Kenya’s Rift
Valley, approximately 75 kilometers northwest
of Nairobi. The expansion will involve
modifications to components of the existing
plant, additions to the Olkaria steam gathering
and injection system, and development of the
geothermal reservoir to support the expansion.
Ormat will use its own proprietary binary cycle
technology involving Organic Rankine cycle
turbines that are air-cooled and run on the
heat energy from geothermal fluid extracted
from geothermal reserves. Re-injecting cooled
water into the reservoir results in minimal
impact on the environment from the energy
production process and requires limited
external water use.
The project is expected to generate 55 new
local jobs, among them 26
professional/technical staff and 28 unskilled
workers. It will also result in initial U.S.
procurement of $82 million, which is expected
to support 323 person-years of direct
employment and 212 person-years of indirect
employment, supporting approximately 107 U.S.
jobs.
“Doubling the capacity of this geothermal plant
– which emits negligible greenhouse gases and
is therefore one of the most
environmentally-friendly power-generating
technologies available – is an important step
forward for Kenya’s economic growth, as well as
for the global shift to a lower carbon
economy,” said OPIC President and CEO Elizabeth
Littlefield. “The fact that the project uses
American technology to do so, and creates jobs
in both the U.S. and Kenya, makes it a win-win
situation for all involved.”
Ormat Technologies designs, builds, owns and
operates geothermal power plants in the United
States, Nicaragua, Kenya and Guatemala; as of
February 2011, the company had installed
generation capacity of 553 MW.
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