Menengai’s Broken Promise: How Kenya’s Geothermal Model Lost the Steam Thematic image of the Olkaria Geothermal Field Kenya’s Menengai geothermal project was sold as a model of modern public-private partnership. The state would carry the difficult and expensive burden of geothermal exploration and drilling. Private power producers would then build, own and operate power plants. Geothermal Development Company would supply the steam; the independent power producers would convert it into electricity; Kenya Power would buy the output. On paper, the arrangement was elegant. In practice, Menengai has exposed a far more uncomfortable reality: Kenya’s public steam-supply model is not delivering the certainty it promised. Menengai Phase I was designed to produce 105 megawatts from three 35 MW plants. GDC’s own project page says the three plants were awarded to Globeleq Menengai Geothermal, Sosian Menengai Geothermal Power and OrPower Twenty Two under a build-own-operate structure. Yet the ...
Repurposing Hydrocarbon Wells for Geothermal Applications Insights from Our Interview with Christi on EGS, Storage, and Europe’s Energy Transition Christi is a Geothermal Resource Engineer and PhD Researcher, specializing in deep geothermal systems, closed-loop systems, well repurposing (especially converting old oil/gas wells for geothermal use), Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS), and Deep Borehole Heat Exchangers (DBHE). What if the thousands of oil and gas wells scattered across Europe could become the backbone of the geothermal transition? In our recent interview with Christi, a leading researcher involved in the TRANSGEO project, we explored the technical, economic, and regulatory realities of repurposing hydrocarbon wells for geothermal applications , particularly for Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS), thermal storage, and district heating integration. From case studies like Groß Schönebeck to regional analysis in Lausitz, Christi offered a grounded and technical perspective o...