Posted on :Monday , 19th April 2021

Work is progressing on the Tulu Moye geothermal site in Ethiopia. Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen), the company carrying out the field work, has just completed the 1st geothermal drilling at the site in the Oromia region of southwest Ethiopia. The Nairobi, Kenya-based energy company has now started drilling the 2nd geothermal well. Under the US$ 52 million contract, KenGen will drill a total of 8 wells in the Ethiopian Rift Valley.

Each well will cost over US$ 6 million. The 2019 years contract with Tulu Moye Geothermal Operations, the special purpose vehicle for the Tulu Moye geothermal project, also includes the provision of geo scientific surveys at the project site. Heat from the wells will be used to generate steam for a 50 MWe power plant. The facility will be operated by Tulu Moye Geothermal Operations.

The company is owned by Meridiam, a French company specialising in the development, financing and management of infrastructure projects; and Reykjavík Geothermal, a geothermal energy company based in Iceland. Tulu Moye Geothermal Operations plans to commission the Tulu Moye geothermal power plant in the year 2023. Its output will be sold to Ethiopian Electric Power, under a power purchase agreement signed in April 2020.

Full implementation of the 1st phase of the Tulu Moye geothermal project will require an investment of US$ 260 million. The commissioning of the 50 MWe steam plant will be the culmination of the 1st phase of a project that will also see a second 100 MWe power plant built by 2025.