Tropical Power Energy Group is opening Africa’s first grid-connect Anaerobic Digester (AD) plant, part of the Gorge Farm Energy Park. In 2016 construction will commence on a further 10MW of solar generation capacity. The AD plant has been developed and will be operated by Tropical Power Ltd, on behalf of Biojoule Kenya, an Independent Power Producer (IPP).
The event was officiated by The Governor of Nakuru County, Kinuthia Mbugua. “The Gorge Farm Energy Park is a showcase project for Nakuru County, Kenya and the African continent. Distributed power projects are vital to our energy security, reliability and efficiency. And the Park will be using local crop waste and the sun to generate clean, renewable power close to the point of use,” he said.
Mike Mason, Chairman, Tropical Power commented, “Through the Gorge Farm Energy Park we aim to displace expensive and imported generation fuels – like diesel and heavy fuel oil – from Kenya’s distributed power mix. The Gorge Farm AD Plant is proof that locally produced feedstock can generate clean and cost effective distributed power. You cannot just ‘plug and play’ a plant like this.”
Tropical Power’s partners include Kenya’s VP Group –the largest producer and exporter of fresh produce in East Africa. GE was selected to deploy its Jenbacher gas engines (provided by Clarke Energy) for the first time in East Africa in a renewable energy project. The initiative has been registered with the Gold Standard by ClimateCare and is expected to reduce CO2 emissions by approximately 7,000 tons of CO2 a year.
Source: ClimateCare
