•KenGen is tapping into new projects including geothermal Spa and setting up manufacturing facilities to grow revenue.
Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen) Plc is setting up an Energy Research and Development Laboratory in Tana to incubate new ideas.
The power generator’s managing director Rebecca Miano revealed this yesterday when Energy CS Charles Keter opened the firm’s three day seminar on Global Innovation in Nairobi.
‘’We are currently setting up an Energy Research and Development Laboratory in Tana to provide a platform where new ideas are tested quickly and in a cost-effective way,” Miano said.
She added that the company is aware of the dynamic operating environment which required the institution to make informed business decisions.
In Olkaria, she said KenGen anticipated to make revenue from various projects including geothermal Spa and setting up manufacturing facilities.
Other viable projects include selling drinking water following commissioning of Gitaru Water Plant, transformer manufacturing and solar cell manufacture, battery and gas turbine grid Stabilisation in western region.
“Main streaming innovation into the very fabric of our business is key to our success. We have gone beyond sporadic light bulb solutions to systematically integrating innovation in our conversations and action,’’ she said.
Keter commended KenGen for organising the seminar which is in its eighth edition, saying such forums have birthed innovative ideas.
He singled out the innovative geothermal well head technology piloted in KenGen and internationalisation of KenGen’s capability through outsourcing of geothermal drilling services in Ethiopia and Djibouti.
He challenged KenGen to develop grid and off-grid solutions and particularly focus on local biogas solutions for the market.
Keter reiterated importance of the KenGen Green Energy Industrial Park as one way of growing demand which is projected to reach 7,200MW by 2030, adding that the government was on track to achieve universal access by 2022.
The Park, which has four zones, is connected to Mombasa port via the standard gauge railway (SGR) line and offers prospective companies direct connection to cheap electricity.