AAEA Kenya, in cooperation with National Clean Fuels (NACF), intends to develop a ten-megawatt woodchip-to-methane-to-electricity plant in Kogelo, Kenya. We are recommending the construction and operation of a wood chip to electricity plant with accompanying substation and electricity transmission and distribution lines. The Center and NACF is presenting this proposal to the Kenyan government and other local stakeholders in order to get approval to proceed with the project.
We envision a ten megawatt, wood chip/sawdust syngas turbine power plant that will operate as a base load unit. We expect of capacity factor of above 90 percent. It is anticipated that the plant will consume approximately ten tons of wood chips per hour. We expect the plant construction and engineering services costs to be approximately $5 million. The facility will need an interconnect and purchase agreement with the national utility, Kenya Power and Light.
The power plant will couple a wood gasifier to a turbine, which will more than match the efficiency (30-35%) of conventional coal-fired power stations in converting fuel to electricity. Potential benefits include worthwhile cost savings as well as the "greenhouse-friendly" replacement of fossil fuels with a renewable energy source. A key requirement in developing a practical unit that will run with minimal attention, will be devising an automated handling system that provides a constant supply of chipped wood to the gasifier. Gasifiers generally run on a portion of the supplied feedstock as well as converting the balance of it to a fuel for other applications.
AAEA President Norris McDonald and NACF principal Maurice Stone met with Kenyan Ambassador Elkanah Odembo at a National Black Chamber of Commerce Conference in Los Angeles, California to discuss the power plant project.
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| Maurice Stone, Ambassador Elkanah Odembo, Norris McDonald |
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