GE and Partners Announce New Renewable Energy Project to Boost Kenya's Power Grid
Project follows a successful run of more than $2.5 billion worth of booked orders across Africa in the last year.
- 100MW wind farm near Nairobi will contribute to installed energy capacity in Kenya
- $2.5 billion in new orders serve transport, aviation, healthcare and energy sectors
- Deal lands as GE makes substantial progress on its 2014 commitment to invest $2 billion in Africa by 2018
GE Africa announced today that it is partnering with Kipeto Energy Limited to build a new wind farm in Kenya's Kajiado County. GE will be the sole equipment supplier for the 100MW project, some 50 kilometres from the capital Nairobi. The local power deal caps off a successful run of more than $2.5 billion in booked orders on the Africa continent across transport, aviation, healthcare and energy sectors.
The Kipeto project, announced during President Obama's visit to Kenya, is expected to make a significant contribution to the installed energy capacity in Kenya, where up to 80% of the population currently lacks electricity access. The $155 million contract will include 60 GE 1.7-103 wind turbines, as well as a 15-year service agreement.
Kipeto Energy Limited shareholders include Africa Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM), Craftskills Wind Energy International Limited, International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Maasai community of Kipeto. The project will be financed by Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) as sole lender to the project. OPIC is the US government's development finance institute and is part of the Power Africa Initiative.
Continued growth across Africa
The Kipeto wind farm project will add to an existing $2.5 billion in orders that GE Africa has received over the past year. These new orders have come from across Sub-Saharan Africa, in transportation, oil and gas, power generation, healthcare and aviation. They have included:
- Oil and Gas equipment for Eni Ghana: The $850 million order incorporates both turbomachinery and subsea elements for the offshore project. The order includes three gas turbines for power generation and four centrifugal compressors. The first shipment is scheduled for the end of 2015 and the project is planned to deliver first oil by 2017.
- Locomotive contract in Angola: GE is to supply 100 locomotives to the Angolan National Railways (INCFA). The contract demonstrates Angola's commitment to diversify its economy into new sectors such as mining, agriculture and energy.
- Kenya Healthcare Modernization Programme: GE was selected in February 2015 by the Kenyan Ministry of Health as a key technology partner for its wide-scale infrastructure modernisation programme aimed at transforming 98 hospitals across Kenya's 47 counties. The radiology modernisation contract awarded to GE Healthcare is the largest of seven tranches of Kenya's ~$420 million health development plan, aimed at delivering sustainable healthcare development, in line Kenya's Vision 2030 Plan.
Delivering on commitments
In August 2014 GE committed to invest $2 billion in facility development, skills training, and sustainability initiatives across Africa by 2018. The commitment was made during the US-Africa Leaders' Summit in Washington DC. Substantial investment and progress has been made against those commitments, and this week GE announced its involvement in several new projects in Kenya.
Key progress over the past year includes:
- GE Manufacturing and Assembly Facility in Nigeria: GE has awarded Nigerian construction company, Julius Berger the contract to build its manufacturing and assembly facility in Calabar, Cross River State. Another Nigerian company, Banyan Tree has been contracted to build a training facility at the Calabar site and for the refurbishment, teacher training and curriculum development of the Cross River State Technical College. GE has also commenced fabrication of subsea well heads and refurbishment of Christmas trees at its Onne facility. Upon completion, these projects make up GE's $250 million capital expenditure investment commitment to Nigeria. This investment is expected to create 2,300 direct and indirect jobs. The Calabar facility is expected to be a regional manufacturing and assembly hub for GE Oil & Gas as well as other GE industrial businesses. The first of its kind site will include training facilities to enable knowledge transfer and career advancement opportunities for local talent.
- Nigeria Biomedical Equipment Technician (BMET): GE Foundation has funded a biomedical training program in Nigeria to equip technicians with the skills to fix devices ranging from blood pressure cuffs to X-rays. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), between 50- 80% of medical equipment is out of service in low-income countries). In partnership with Engineering World Health, 19 students have been trained to date. The goal is to train 60 students by year end 2017..
- Mozambique Graduate Engineering Training Programme: GE has enrolled 20 Mozambican graduate engineers in the company's Graduate Engineering Training Program (GETP), a "best in class" development program designed to prepare engineers to join GE's global field service engineering team after successful completion of an intense 24-month curriculum. The engineers concluded phase 1 of the program at the Mozal.