Kenya ranks seventh past Italy as a geothermal power producer in the world. This is according to new global data. Kenya’s capacity for geothermal power is at 823 megawatts (MW). This is an improvement from the previous 658 megawatts. It has grown by165MW from last year. This has moved the East African nation beyond Italy’s 800 megawatts.
This is as per Renewable Capacity Statistics prepared by Abu Dhabi-based (Irena) International Renewable Energy Agency (2020).
Kenya ranks seventh bypassing Italy
The world’s highest geothermal producer is the US. It has an installed capacity of 2,555 MW. This is three times Kenya’s output. Although the stock of the country has been recently being reducing. Indonesia follows in second by 2,2131 MW. In third place is the Philippines with 1,928 MW. Turkey comes in fourth with 1,515 MW.
In fifth place is New Zealand’s 965 MW. Mexico comes in sixth place (936 MW). Finally, Kenya bags seventh place after overtaking Italy and Iceland. Italy held the top spot up to the second semi of the 20th century. It is when other countries found importance in geothermal power.
Italy’s steam power limit remained at 728MW in 2010. This is in contrast to the current 800MW. This means the European country has just dealt with a 9.8 percent development over the previous decade. Then again, Kenya’s supply of geothermal has grown multiple times over a comparative period in 2010 from 198MW.
Kenya on the road to 1GW
Kenya’s expansion of geothermal advancement has put it on target to joining the Gigawatt Club of nations with geothermal creation of 1,000MW (1GW) or more. Just four countries, including the US, have a place in this club. Geothermal is an alluring minimal effort sustainable power source with low discharges and fills in as steady, solid base-load power. Last year Kenya added the third biggest geothermal limit on the planet, allowing it to move to the top seven worldwide geothermal powerhouses.
“Geothermal power capacity grew by 682MW in 2019 (globally), slightly more than in 2018. Again, Turkey led with an expansion of 232MW, followed by Indonesia (+185MW) and Kenya (+160MW),” Irena said in its update.
Until a year ago, Kenya was positioned ninth in geothermal creation. However, it steamed ahead to bypass Iceland to get to eight. And it has now pulled a comparable coup on Italy. Geothermal currently represents 30 percent of Kenya’s whole power limit of 2,700MW. The other comprises of hydropower, wind, sun based and warm force.
Geothermal power has its underlying foundations in Italy where it was first evolved more than 100 years back. Kenya built its first geothermal plant, the Olkaria 1, in 1981. Numerous other geothermal plants have since been worked over the Rift Valley.
Aside from Kenya, the only other African country that has established geothermal power is Ethiopia with 7 megawatts.
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