KenGen has received Cabinet’s nod to scale up the production capacity of Gogo hydropower project in a re-development aimed at increasing its generation capacity from 2MW to 8.6 MW.

The electricity generating company had announced plans to rehabilitate the plant in Western Kenya as one way of stabilising electricity supply and minimising power outages in the region.

This is coming at a time when KenGen plans to generate an extra 3,000MW into the national grid, over the next ten years.

According to the electricity producer, the objective of the project is to redevelop the 64-year old hydropower plant thus increasing the plant's capacity and efficiency, by utilising the good inflows from river Kuja and modernising the power plant.

“The project will improve the efficiency of the plant, optimally utilise the inflows of the river and achieve a higher output, thereby improving the power situation in the region,” KenGen said in a statement.

In September 2021, the European Union through the National Treasury and the Ministry of Energy provided a grant of EUR 700,000 (Sh110.5 million) to KenGen for Gogo hydropower plant's redevelopment feasibility study.

The redevelopment will include the construction of a new powerhouse equipped with two vertical turbine generators, transformers, and the associated equipment.

KenGen will also add a new 66/33kV substation and a dedicated 33kV double circuit power evacuation line, 29.9km from the new powerhouse to the Awendo sub-station.

“The generated electricity from the plant is evacuated via an unstable 33kV distribution line to 132/33kV Awendo substation. The plant also experiences frequent breakdowns mainly due to aging,” reads the feasibility study that recommended redevelopment of Gogo hydropower plant.

The 2MW Gogo hydropower plant was commissioned in 1958.

KenGen said the plant has outlived its economic life, and the current equipment (turbine and generators) were built using old technologies and it has become difficult to find spare parts of such.

“Lack of availability of the spare parts usually translates to long downtime of the units during repair and, or maintenance,” reads part of the study.

The specific objective of the study was to assess the technical, financial, economic, environmental, and social viability of redeveloping Gogo power plant, to achieve a higher output by utilising the available discharge and optimising the equipment and structures.

The study recommended redevelopment of Gogo hydropower plant to provide a peaking capacity of 8.6MW and to improve the plant's availability.

KenGen’s 3,000 MW plan will be driven largely by deploying up to 2,000MW drawn from geothermal and hydro sources as baseload power, to stabilise the country’s energy sources.

The agency will be looking to tap into the vast potential of geothermal energy in the Rift Valley region, which is estimated to be about 10,000MW of clean and renewable energy.

The increasing adoption of e-mobility in the country has piled pressure for more power generation.

“Going forward, we will be seeking to enlist new drilling fields for geothermal after successful drilling expeditions in the existing fields," management said.

The acquisition of new fields will be one of the major initiatives for the company, as it seeks to take advantage of the 10GW geothermal potential in the country.