Skip to main content

Globeleq 35 MW Menengai Geothermal Plant Project To Start by April 2025

 Bringing Sustainable Energy to Kenya: Globeleq's 35 MW Geothermal Power Project in Menengai



In a significant stride towards sustainable energy development in Kenya, Globeleq, a leading independent power producer, is set to embark on a groundbreaking 35 MW geothermal power project in Menengai. With the project slated to commence construction next week, the collaboration between Globeleq and its partners marks a pivotal moment in Kenya's renewable energy journey.

Mobilization of Construction Teams and Commencement of Civil Works

Globeleq has joined forces with prominent EPC contractors, Toyota Tsusho Corporation and CFAO Kenya Limited, to kickstart the mobilization of construction teams. The commencement of civil works signals the beginning of a transformative phase for the Menengai region and the broader Kenyan energy landscape.

Timeline and Project Scope

The construction phase is estimated to span 23 months, with full operation expected to commence around the quarter of 2025. This ambitious timeline underscores the commitment of all stakeholders involved to deliver clean, reliable energy to the region in a timely manner. Once operational, the project is poised to create approximately 250 jobs, providing much-needed employment opportunities for the local community.

 GDC's Inaugural Geothermal Plant

Menengai will serve as the inaugural geothermal plant supplied by the Geothermal Development Company (GDC) to the project. Under a 25-year project implementation agreement, GDC will play a pivotal role in providing steam to power the plant, further solidifying Kenya's position as a leader in geothermal energy production.

Operations and Maintenance

Upon reaching commercial operation in 2025, Globeleq will assume responsibility for operating and maintaining the power plant. This commitment ensures the sustained efficiency and longevity of the infrastructure, guaranteeing uninterrupted energy supply to the region for years to come.

Power Purchase Agreement with KPLC

Electricity generated from the Menengai geothermal plant will be sold to the Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) under a 25-year power purchase agreement. This strategic partnership underscores the importance of collaboration between the public and private sectors in driving sustainable energy initiatives and meeting the growing demand for electricity in Kenya.

As Globeleq's 35 MW geothermal power project in Menengai takes shape, it represents a beacon of hope for Kenya's energy future. By harnessing the country's abundant geothermal resources, this initiative not only promotes environmental sustainability but also fosters economic growth and job creation. With construction set to commence imminently, the countdown to a greener, more prosperous future for Menengai and Kenya as a whole has begun

Source: Researched and Written by Robert Buluma, alphaxioms@gmail.com.

Comments

Hot Topics

Blowout at Cape Station: Fervo Energy’s First Major Crisis After Blockbuster IPO

Just weeks after a record-breaking IPO, the flagship project of the "geothermal unicorn" faces its first major operational crisis. By : Robert Buluma   Beaver County, Utah – The morning of May 27, 2026, began like any other at the Cape Station construction site in rural Utah. Workers for Fervo Energy, the newly public darling of the renewable energy world, were engaged in the complex task of drilling deep into the Earth’s crust to unlock what the company promised would be the future of 24/7 clean power. But by the afternoon, the routine had turned into a crisis. The site had experienced a blowout—an uncontrolled release of fluid or pressure from a well. For any energy company, a blowout is a serious matter. For Fervo Energy, which had just raised $1.89 billion in a blockbuster Nasdaq debut two weeks prior, it represents an immediate stress test of its technology, its safety protocols, and its $7.7 billion market valuation. While the well has since been contained and no injur...

Rodatherm Energy: The Refrigerant Gambit

By: Robert Buluma   Rodatherm Energy has done something no other geothermal startup has attempted at commercial scale: swapped water for refrigerant in a closed-loop system. The claim is 50% higher thermal efficiency than water-based binary cycles, achieved by circulating a proprietary phase-change fluid through a fully cased, pressurized wellbore. The company emerged from stealth in September 2025 with a $38 million Series A—the largest first venture raise in geothermal history. Lead investor Evok Innovations was joined by Toyota Ventures, TDK Ventures, and the Grantham Foundation. The engineering thesis is elegant. The execution risks are significant. This is an Alphaxioms examination of both. II. The Thermodynamic Distinction Every geothermal company you've covered moves heat using water or steam. Rodatherm moves heat using a fluid that boils and condenses inside the wellbore. In a conventional closed-loop water system (Eavor's model), water circulates as a single-phase liq...

Eavor Geretsried Geothermal Breakthrough: Inside the Closed-Loop Energy Revolution, Drilling Challenges, and Path to Scalable Clean Power

The Geothermal “Holy Grail” Just Got a Reality Check: Inside Eavor’s Geretsried Breakthrough By: Robert Buluma   May 22, 2026 It’s not every day a deep-tech energy company publishes a detailed technical report that openly documents what went wrong on its flagship project—and still comes out looking stronger. That’s exactly what Eavor Technologies did with its Geretsried geothermal project in Bavaria, Germany. The result is unusually transparent: part technical post-mortem, part validation of a technology many have doubted for years. And the core message is simple. They built it. It works. But it wasn’t smooth. The short version Eavor is trying to solve one of geothermal energy’s hardest problems: how to produce reliable heat and power anywhere, not just in rare volcanic hotspots. Their claim has always been bold: a closed-loop geothermal system that is scalable, dispatchable, low-carbon, and independent of natural reservoirs. Critics have long argued it wouldn’t survive...

Germany’s Hidden Heat Rush: Inside the Massive Urban Geothermal Hunt Beneath Erfurt’s Streets

Germany’s Urban Geothermal Gamble: Inside the Massive 3D Seismic Campaign Beneath Erfurt’s Streets by Geofizyka Torun By : Robert Buluma  In the heart of Germany, something extraordinary is happening beneath the sidewalks, apartment blocks, cafés, and busy streets of Erfurt. While most residents move through their daily routines unaware, fleets of heavy vibrotrucks and thousands of seismic receivers have been quietly scanning the Earth below the city in one of Europe’s most ambitious urban geothermal exploration campaigns. The recent completion of a demanding 3D seismic survey campaign by Geofizyka Torun S.A. marks far more than a technical milestone. It represents a glimpse into the future of European energy — a future where cities no longer rely heavily on imported fossil fuels, but instead tap into the immense heat hidden beneath their own foundations. Germany’s geothermal race is accelerating, and Erfurt has suddenly become one of the most fascinating battlegrounds in Europe’...

The New Language of Geothermal Drilling: Why the IADC Well Classification Is Reshaping Project Development

The New Language of Geothermal Drilling: What Every Developer Must Know About the IADC Well Classification By Alphaxioms | Geothermal Intelligence For decades, geothermal energy has suffered from a problem that had nothing to do with geology, temperature, or capital. It suffered from a language problem. Developers, drillers, financiers, and policymakers have long struggled to speak the same language when describing geothermal wells — what they are, how complex they are, what they cost to build, and what risks they carry. That problem has quietly persisted in boardrooms, DFI credit committees, and project development offices across the world, slowing financing, distorting risk assessments, and creating a fog of ambiguity that has cost the sector dearly. In February 2025, the International Association of Drilling Contractors (IADC) published its Geothermal Well Classification — Issue 1.0. It is thirty pages long. It is methodical, technically precise, and deceptively significant. For ...

The Poznan Test: Why Innargi's Usufruct Agreement Is Europe's Real Geothermal Heating Benchmark

The Poznan Test: Why Innargi's Usufruct Agreement Is Europe's Real Geothermal Heating Benchmark By Alphaxioms Geothermal Intelligence | June 6, 2026 For months, the geothermal heating world has watched Germany—Geretsried, Erfurt, Berlin. But a quieter, potentially more significant story has been unfolding in western Poland. On May 28, 2026, Innargi, the Danish subsurface developer backed by AP Pension and Hatch, signed a usufruct agreement with the City of Poznan for two geothermal heating plant sites. The press release was brief. The implications are not. This is not a pilot. It is not a research project. It is a commercial-scale urban heating play in one of Europe's most coal-dependent economies. And the timeline, the partners, and the geology all point to a single question: If Innargi makes Poznan work, how many cities follow? Part I: What Was Actually Signed The agreement covers two locations: Chartowo in eastern Poznan and Kopanino in western Poznan. The Chartowo sit...

Berlin Eyes 250 MW of Geothermal Heat by 2045 – And a 120 MW Power-to-Heat Plant Is Just the Beginning

Berlin Is Drilling for a 250 MW Miracle – And It Might Just Work The German capital is betting on two radical technologies to kill fossil heat by 2045. One is already under construction. The other lies 2.5 kilometers beneath the Alexanderplatz. By Robert Buluma   June 2, 2026 BERLIN – On a gray morning in May, a few blocks from the Berlin-Mitte combined heat and power plant, Kerstin Busch did something that would have been unthinkable a decade ago. She signed off on a 120-megawatt electric boiler that will turn surplus wind and solar power directly into hot water. “Electricity from wind and solar plants will be directly usable for around 30,000 district heating customers,” said Busch, Technical Managing Director of BEW Berliner Energie und Wärme. The €75 million project, backed by transmission operator 50Hertz, will be online by the end of 2028. That is the headline. But the real story is what Berlin is planning next. Deep beneath the city’s sandy soil, in hot water reservoirs tha...

Geothermal vs. AI Energy Crisis: Can Superhot Rock Power Data Centers in 2026?

The Geothermal-AI Energy Revolution: How Superhot Rock Could Power the World’s Data Centers By : Robert Buluma   The rapid rise of artificial intelligence is creating an unprecedented demand for electricity, pushing the world's data centers to their limits. To meet this 24/7 power requirement without derailing climate goals, the tech industry is turning to an unlikely source: the boundless heat beneath our feet. A new generation of "superhot rock" geothermal technologies is emerging as a potential solution, combining drilling innovations with the unrelenting computing power of AI itself. ⚡ The AI Energy Challenge: Why Solar and Wind Fall Short The explosive growth of artificial intelligence is creating an unprecedented energy crunch. By 2030, AI infrastructure could consume between 210 and 1,540 TWh annually, equivalent to the entire electricity consumption of some major countries. Hyperscale data centers in the US alone are expected to demand 15-17 GW of new capacity, a ...

ABB’s Polish-Made Drives Are Powering America’s Geothermal Future at Fervo’s Cape Station

From Łódź to Utah: ABB’s Polish Plant Powers the Next Generation of American Geothermal Energy By: Robert Buluma   In the race to build a reliable, carbon-free grid, a quiet but powerful partnership is taking shape—one that connects a high-tech factory in central Poland with a sprawling geothermal development in the Utah desert. ABB , the Swiss-Swedish engineering giant, has signed an agreement to supply advanced motor control solutions for Fervo Energy's flagship Cape Station project in Beaver County, Utah. The equipment, including more than 80 medium-voltage drives, will be manufactured at ABB's state-of-the-art facility in Aleksandrów Łódzki, Poland, underscoring how global supply chains are mobilizing to unlock next-generation geothermal energy at scale. Fervo Energy : Redefining Geothermal with Horizontal Drilling and AI Fervo Energy has emerged as a leading force in enhanced geothermal systems (EGS), a technology that adapts oil and gas techniques—horizontal drilling, m...

Baseload Capital launches new geothermal power plant in Japan, expanding its presence in the country’s untapped geothermal sector

Bill Gates-backed Baseload Capital has commissioned its second geothermal power plant in Japan, marking further expansion into a market with significant untapped geothermal resources. By : Robert Buluma   Image :  Kazuyuki Akaishi, manager at Furusato Netsuden and Anders Helling, CEO at Baseload Capital. Press photo ., Credit :  Imapct loop The Waita Model: How a Swedish-Backed Startup Just Cracked Japan's Geothermal Code KUMAMOTO / STOCKHOLM — In the misty highlands of Kumamoto Prefecture, on the southern island of Kyushu, a quiet revolution in renewable energy has just switched on. On June 4, 2026, Stockholm-based  Baseload Capital officially commissioned its second geothermal power plant in Japan: Waita No. 2. While a 4.995 MW facility might seem modest compared to a nuclear reactor or an offshore wind farm, the financial and political ramifications of this event are seismic. For decades, Japan has been described as the "Saudi Arabia of geothermal." The archipel...