2018-05-17 09:41:27 Source: Xinhua News Agency
Kenya's proposed 2 billion U.S. dollar Lamu Coal Power plantthat will be built by China Power Global will be the cleanest coal fired powerplant in Africa, Project officials said on Wednesday.
Francis Njogu, the Managing Director of Amu Power Company, tolda media briefing in Nairobi that the 1,050 MW plant will use the latest cleancoal technology that will reduce its impact on the environment.
"We have secured technology to enable the coal plant tooperate at a 43 percent efficiency which is 10- point higher than average inthe world. This means that it will burn less coal to produce a unit of power ascompared to conventional technology," Njogu said.
The owners of the coal plant are a consortium consisting ofCentum Investments, Gulf Energy, Sichuan Electric Power Design and Consulting,China Huadian and Sichuan No. 3 Power Construction.
Njogu said that they will deploy technology that has highupfront costs but lower operating costs in the long run. "So we will endup achieving higher returns and less pollution to the environment," hesaid.
Amu Power Plant has signed a 25-year Power Purchase Agreement tosupply State owned electricity supplier at approximately 7.52 cents perKilowatt hour whereas electricity produced by geothermal attracts a tariff of8.5 cents per Kilowatt hour.
Njogu noted that currently 60 percent of world's electricity isproduced by fossils fuels, 40 percent of which is from coal power.
He said that coal power will help to diversify Kenya's energymix in order to ensure it has reliable and cost effective power supply.
Data from ministry of energy indicates that Kenya has aninstalled electricity capacity of 2,370 Megawatts out of 533 MW is fromgeothermal with the rest from hydropower, diesel powered and solar sources.
Amu Power Company is currently awaiting the decision of theenvironmental tribunal court before it can commence actual construction of thepower plant.
Construction is expected to take 40 months to complete but itwill begin to produce electricity after 36 months.
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