State invites bids for 90 MW geothermal plants

The Geothermal Development Company (GDC) has invited three bids from eligible firms or investors for the supply and installation of three geothermal modular power plants at the Menengai Geothermal Project.

A statement from the GDC said the three plants, with a combined production capacity of 90 megawatts of 30 MW each, are expected to be completed by the end of 2014. “The successful firms will finance, design, procure or manufacture, install, construct and test the plants.

They will also be required to commission, operate and maintain the plant on a 25-year Build Own Operate basis at the Menengai field,” GDC said in the statement yesterday.

The GDC said the 90 MW will be part of the larger 400 MW phase 1 Menengai Project Development, scheduled for commissioning by 2016/2017.  “The interim injection of the 90 MW to the grid will offer a reprieve to the consumer who has had to make do with an unstable and expensive power supply,” it said. The bids close on September 16.

The Menengai project is expected to inject 400 megawatts of electricity into the national grid by 2017, which would boost current production by close to a third.

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The State’s plan is to increase private sector participation and utilise low carbon resources such as wind and geothermal to increase electricity generation capacity by an additional 2,000 MW in the medium term. The additional power will expand electricity access to 40 per cent of the population from about 30 per cent in 2012. Current electricity demand is 1,191 MW while the effective installed capacity under hydrology is 1,429 MW. Hydro sources contribute 52.1 per cent of total electricity, thermal 32.5 per cent and geothermal 13.2 per cent.  —Xinhua