EOI – Investment in geothermal direct use, Menengai, Kenya

Drilling rig at Menengai, Kenya (source: ARGeo)

A news piece from Kenya reports this morning on how Kenya’s Geothermal Development Company (GDC) is seeking to lure investors with an offer of direct steam sales. This is, so the article, the first time that the company is seeking to directly create revenues from geothermal wells with lower output.

The company has been drilling geothermal wells targeted for power generation and is now seeking to create revenue streams by tapping those wells that not provide sufficient heat our output for power generation.  So far the company has been building its business on funding by the country’s  Treasury, concessional loans and donors, as well as steam sales from its wells.

With the observed benefits of direct uses, GDC plans to commercialize the technology by inviting investors to use the technology to power processes in their firms or investments. It is for this reason that, GDC invites Expression of Interest (EoI) from potential investors, as highlighted in a tender notice for Expressions of Interest (pdf).

Objective/ Geothermal energy applications

Geothermal energy can be utilized for a different range of applications ranging from industrial, agriculture, tourism, leisure and domestic, depending on the resource temperature and usage. The investments are to be located adjacent to Menengai geothermal project.

Scope of work

Interested firms/consortium are therefore invited to express their interest in investing in projects that would utilize geothermal energy for Direct-Uses by; (a) Requesting for the investment term-sheet which contains a summary of the expected energy tariffs and related (b) Submitting a summary of the proposed investment in a format to be provided.

Eligibility/ Criteria for evaluating potential investors

Evaluation of the potential investors in direct uses of geothermal energy will be skewed towards the parameters as provided in the detailed report. (The detailed report is to be downloaded from GDC website www.gdc.co.ke free of charge.)

EOI Submission

Submission of the expression of interest made in English must be received in a plain sealed envelope and delivered or registered to: Managing Director & CEO, Geothermal Development Company Ltd (GDC), GDC Kawi House, South C, P.O Box 100746 – 00101, Nairobi-Kenya.

For further details see the EOI Notice (pdf) – a full description can be found in this detailed overview document (pdf).

Source: GDC