Fire destroys cooling system at Olkaria

NAIVASHA: There was a moment of anxiety at KenGen Olkaria plant in Naivasha after one of the power plants burst into flames during maintenance.

Operations at the 5mw-wellhead generator were paralysed as the fire destroyed the plant's cooling system.

Incidentally, this is the same plant that two years ago raised controversy over how the Sh7 billion-worth wellhead generator was acquired.

The then Parliamentary Committee on Energy led by its chairman, James Rege, visited the plant and gave it an approval.

Since then, more such wellhead generators have been erected in the geothermal rich area, with KenGen saying the new system had seen the time of drilling and supplying electricity greatly reduced.

But in the latest incident, the fire left the plant cooling towers in ashes as a group of workers at the site escaped unhurt.

According to a source, the workers were repairing the cooling towers when it burst into flames forcing them to flee.

"There was welding going on and we suspect the sparks led to the fire, which completely burnt out the cooling tower," said the source.

The source said the plant was being overhauled when the incident occurred, resulting in the withdrawal of 5mw from the national grid.