| Title | KenGen Wellhead Technology Experience & Business Insight |
|---|---|
| Authors | Ronoh Kibet, Roy Bwoma |
| Year | 2012 |
| Conference | ARGeo |
| Keywords | |
| Abstract | Today, geothermal energy is known as one of the most reliable alternative renewable energy source and has been proved to be technically and economically feasible. Geothermal electricity is generated from geothermal energy. Several modes of technology are used to convert the geothermal energy into electricity but the paper will focus on wellhead generation technology. Kenya has been focusing on the generation of power to meet its acute power shortage and ever rising demand. Traditionally KenGen has used conventional power plants which involve months of well drilling and years of central power plant construction. The wellhead technology seeks to take advantage the idle time between completion of drilling and the start and finish of the central power plant construction. It yields an overlapping concept that harvests the capped steam as soon as it is available for immediate power and revenue generation prior to the central power plant completion. KenGen being the country¡¦s leading power producer has embraced the use of wellhead generators in geothermal thus realizing early power generation. Wellhead Technology has a modular approach which connects wells with outputs of up to 15MW. The modular approach allows for a combination of wells using short streamlines instead of the traditional long lines which are very costly and take much longer to construct. The modules form clusters which generate power through the convectional mode of steam running turbines. The power is then directly fed into the grid. As a result, wellhead technology has enabled KenGen gain an edge over the following challenges: Immediate power supply to address its rising demand. Due to its low capital cost and immediate utilization the company has been able to borrow capital and repay almost immediately unlike the traditional mode that takes close to a year before the repayment plan kicks off. This minimizes interest gains on loan. Reduced cost of power generation i.e. steam fields. Power plant portability which taps into isolated and remote areas. Higher revenue collection from the attractive wellhead feed-in tariff as compared to the conventional PPAs. Modular approach enhances access to small value loans thus appealing to small and medium scale investors. This paper seeks to address the wellhead (early generation) concept and KenGen experience in deploying this revolutionary technology. |