| Abstract |
Operating a geothermal power plant is a continuous process where equipment has to be maintained for reliability. In 2015, Kenya, which is currently the eighth largest geothermal producer in the world, commissioned the 280MW geothermal expansion project. This project consists of two power plants which are Olkaria 1 Additional Units (AU) and Olkaria IV. Olkaria 1 AU has two generating sets each rated 75.26MWe. The plant started commercial operation in January 2015 and since then it has faced several maintenance issues ranging from corrosion, silica scaling, slug flow and erosion. These issues have affected plant efficiency thus decline in overall plant availability due to unwarranted stoppages considering that this is a base load plant. This paper will describe the operation of the Olkaria 1 AU geothermal power plant, maintenance issues and corrective actions undertaken since commercial operation. These include deflected main steam lines due to slug flow, cracked circulating water glass reinforced polyester pipe, clogged pressure and flow control valves and carryover causing scrubber faults. However, these issues have and are being quickly addressed in a view of reliably powering the country. This has been attributed to dedicated and skilled maintenance staff both at the steam field and power plant, redundancy of plant equipment and applying the planned maintenance concept in their activities. |