Coupled with the benefits of trading in carbon credits, geothermal energy is also emerging as an important source of electricity expected to contribute over 400MW by 2015.




Carbon credits

State-owned Geothermal Development Company estimates the country’s capacity at 7,000MW from wells in the Rift Valley. Carbon Africa, a firm involved in the exchange of carbon credits in Kenya, is already working with Kipeto and will be seeking to register the venture under the UN’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM).

An official from the firm said that a stakeholders’ (including officials from GE) meeting has been called early next month to evaluate the environmental and social impacts of the project before it is considered clean by UN.

It is upon registration with the CDM that carbon credits can accrue to an environmentally friendly project which has limited carbon dioxide emission — the gas responsible for global warming.

A carbon credit is a tradable certificate or permit representing the right to emit one tonne of carbon dioxide, which can be sold to party that has invested in ventures that reduce the gas.

http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/General+Electric+launches+100MW+wind+power+plant++/-/539552/1316116/-/item/1/-/5ufa9ez/-/index.html

General Electric Co, the largest US conglomerate, has upgraded its Nairobi office to a regional hub to serve its sub-Saharan Africa business.




The Nairobi office used to serve the East Africa region but will now act as a hub for its west, central and part of southern African business—excluding South Africa.

GE’s revenue from Africa accounts for roughly one per cent of its global revenue, but that share is likely to go up, said Jeffrey Immelt, the group chief executive at GE in Nairobi on Monday.

“We have opened the regional office in Nairobi to serve sub-Saharan Africa because GE has identified ample opportunities to invest in, especially in infrastructure,” said Mr Immelt at an event attended by Vice- President Kalonzo Musyoka.

GE says its revenue of about $1.5 billion from across 14 countries including South Africa, Nigeria, Angola and Kenya has been growing in double digits over the last two years. It is targeting to maintain a growth of 10-15 per cent in the short term targeting the power and health sectors.

In Kenya, its prime customers are Kenya Airways and Rift Valley Railways whom its supplies with engines.

It also serves hospitals with equipment such as X-ray machines.

It is also seeking a piece of Kenya’s power sectors where it has started the construction of a 100 megawatts wind power plant worth Sh34 billion and is seeking land in Northern Kenya to build another wind power plant with a capacity for 150 MW.

It joins a string of multinationals including Bharti Airtel, Nestle, Heineken and Coca-Cola that has set their regional shops in Kenya thanks to the location of Nairobi and ease of getting skilled employees for their operations.

The firm also operates in Ghana, Senegal, Cameroon, Rwanda Ethiopia, Zambia, Senegal and Equatorial Guinea and has 1,200 staff on the continent.

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“We are long term investors, I saw these trends in Brazil and China some two decades ago— this is the time to invest in Africa,” Mr Immelt in reference to the increased investor interest in the continent.

But unlike other countries such as China and India, which have focused their attention on Africa’s resources like oil and minerals and market for the produce, the US is targeting the high tech products to maintain its share of the continent’s business.

Chinese exports to Kenya have grown steadily in recent years at the expense of the US and other western nations.

In 2006, the value of Chinese imports overtook those of US to stand at Sh120.6 billion last year compared to Sh39.3 billion of Washington.

While China’s cheap goods have flooded the streets and supermarkets of all major cities and small towns in Africa, America has deepened its presence in the high-tech goods market such as planes, medicines and medical equipment.
http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/Corporate+News/GE+upgrades+Nairobi+to+regional+hub+/-/539550/1317000/-/koc01w/-/index.html

US infrastructure firm, General Electric, has signed an agreement with the government to modernise Kenya’s transport, health and aviation industries.



Undertaken in partnership with the Vision 2030 secretariat, the projects will increase General Electric’s (GE) foothold in the region at a time when Western companies in East Africa are facing stiff competition from their Asian counterparts.

“The net worth of a GE partnership with Kenya through Vision 2030 cannot be gainsaid,” said Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka yesterday.

He was speaking during a roundtable meeting with various government officials and stakeholders from the health, transport and energy industries. Already, GE has invested $300m to $400m in renewable energy through the Kipeto wind generation plant in Kajiado.

The project will produce 100MW of power in its first phase with 250MW projected for subsequent phases.

The wind power plant will be opened in two years and is the single largest foreign direct investment in Kenya’s energy sector. While helping plug in Kenya’s power deficit, the project will also help General Electric to gain mileage in international carbon trading markets.

250mw plant kajiado? Just how many wind projects are planned?

Relevant news article:

General Electric plans to build 100MW wind farm in Kenya
Power Engineering (http://www.power-eng.com/news/2012/01/1594488665/general-electric-plans-to-build-100mw-wind-farm-in-kenya-report.html)
31 January 2012
U.S. energy giant General Electric plans to build a 100MW wind power generating park in the region of Ngong, near the capital of Nairobi, in southern Kenya, Business Daily reported, quoting unnamed sources familiar with the situation. The wind farm project, named Kipeto Energy, is fully owned and funded by GE, through its power generating subsidiary GE Energy, but a local firm is handling the construction, according to a source of the Business Daily. The construction of the wind park has already started and is expected to be finalised in two years.

Local energy experts estimate that Kipeto Energy would cost to the U.S. power giant over USD 300mn, making it one of the largest foreign direct investments in Kenya's energy sector. The GE Energy chief executive for Kenya, George Njenga, did not comment on the reports, but he has previously said that the company had made big steps towards establishing a wind power farm. The chief executive at the Energy Regulatory Commission, Kaburu Mwirichia, said he was aware that GE was establishing a wind power plant and was expecting an application for approval of the power purchase tariff. Kipeto Energy would be the second largest wind farm in Kenya after the 300MW Lake Turkana, which is scheduled to become fully operational by April 2013. Another company, Aeolus Kenya, recently got the green light to build a 60.8MW wind farm at Kinangop, north of Nairobi. Kenya has a power generating capacity of about 1,400MW, relying mainly on hydro power. But recent droughts have led to power shortages and forced the country to turn to the more than seven times more expensive power generated by diesel fuel-driven generators to match rising demand. The current shortfall in the country's power requirements is estimated at 20%. State utility Kenya Power projects that demand for electricity will rise by 13% annually over the next five years.

Relevant news article:

General Electric plans to build 100MW wind farm in Kenya
Power Engineering (http://www.power-eng.com/news/2012/01/1594488665/general-electric-plans-to-build-100mw-wind-farm-in-kenya-report.html)
31 January 2012

:cheers::cheers::cheers:
Nice.

http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/GE+targets+Sh17+5bn+local+debt+for+wind+farm/-/539552/1534798/-/w8wr75z/-/index.html

http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/Kenyatta+kin+in+Sh11bn+Ngong+wind+energy+plan++/-/539552/1538484/-/item/1/-/i997it/-/index.html