Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen) has completed a Sh15.6 billion upgrade of its Olkaria 1 geothermal power plant at Olkaria in Naivasha, lifting output to 60.5 megawatts (MW) from 45MW, as the country races to ease a supply crunch that has forced it to rely on imported electricity.
Olkaria 1 is Kenya’s oldest geothermal power station, and its first unit was commissioned in 1981. KenGen shut it down in 2023 to make way for rehabilitation, and in 2024 awarded Toshiba ESS the contract to supply steam turbines and generators for Units 1 to 3.
The company had targeted a capacity of 63MW and then expected to commission the first turbine by June 2026. It later said the work was 70 percent complete in mid-2025, after the main equipment arrived through the Port of Mombasa. The upgrade adds about 15.5MW, an increase of a third, and extends the life of the plant.
The need is clear in the numbers. A surge in demand has forced Kenya Power to buy more electricity from Ethiopia and Uganda, with imports rising to 1.91 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) in the year to June 2026, up 60.5 percent from 1.19 billion kWh in the year to June 2024.
Geothermal is Kenya’s baseload source, running day and night, and it is the third cheapest source of power. Geothermal plants supplied 6.42 billion kWh, or 40.9 percent of the electricity delivered to Kenya Power in the year to June 2026, ahead of hydropower at 3.55 billion kWh, or 22.65 percent. Wind came third with 1.93 billion kWh, followed by imports at 1.91 billion kWh.
The added output from Olkaria 1 is modest next to those imports. At a typical plant availability of around 90 percent, 15.5MW could produce roughly 120 million kWh a year, equal to about 6 percent of the electricity Kenya imported last year, though this depends on how steadily the plant runs.
The project is part of a wider effort. KenGen invested Sh15.5 billion in power infrastructure in the year to June 2026, up 14.3 percent, and its pipeline includes the proposed 42.5MW Seven Forks solar plant, the redevelopment of the Gogo hydropower station, battery storage and plans to raise Masinga dam. It is also developing a Green Energy Park at Olkaria to bring manufacturers closer to geothermal power and steam.
The upgrade supports Kenya’s goal of running entirely on clean energy by 2030 and of joining the group of countries with at least 1 gigawatt of geothermal capacity.
