OrPower Geo

pending

The proposed investment comprises an IFC senior loan of up to USD 30 million, and parallel/B-lender mobilization of up to USD 37.5 million to support the construction and operation of a 35 MW geothermal power facility (‘Orpower’ or ‘the project”) within the Menengai Caldera geothermal field in Kenya. The project site is situated within a public forest reserve under the jurisdiction of the Kenya Forest Service (KFS), which has formally granted a sub-lease authorizing geothermal development activities, including OrPower’s operations, within the protected area. The proposed plant will be the third and final 35 MW plant to be established in the Menengai field and will share geothermal resources and power evacuation infrastructure with two other independent power producers (IPPs): Globeleq Menengai Limited (GML) and Sosian Energy, operated by Kaishan Group, the sponsor of this project. The project is being developed by OrPower22 Ltd (‘OTTL’ or ‘Orpower’), a special-purpose vehicle owned by Kaishan Renewable Energy Development Limited (KRED), a Singapore-registered subsidiary of the Kaishan Group (“Kaishan”), the project sponsor. Kaishan and KRED will act as the Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) contractor and later as the Operations and Maintenance (O&M) provider. The project construction began earlier in 2025 and is expected to commence operations in March 2026. Civil works, specifically the construction of foundations and structural components are substantially complete. The installation of key equipment namely turbines, generators, turbines etc is about 80% complete. The installation of the roughly 120m power evacuation line connecting the plant to the adjacent Menengai substation is also complete. Geothermal Development Company (GDC) completed critical infrastructure which also serve the two other IPPs in the Menengai field. These include the steam gathering system that connects the supply wellheads to the plants, the brine management infrastructure including brine re-injection wells, lined emergency ponds and related facilities by 2023. Additionally, during the geothermal exploration phase, enhancements and completion of access roads to the wellfield, internal roads network, potable water boreholes, and bulk water storage tanks were carried out. These facilities are shared among the three IPPs and already operational. Records show that in 2012/2013, land was acquired from 22 persons for expansion of the access road to the wellfield. Similarly, the Kenya Electricity Transmission Company (KETRACO) developed and manages the Menengai substation and a 13 km, 132 kV transmission line evacuating electricity from the field to the pre-existing Soilo substation in Nakuru town. The Menengai substation includes designated bays for the IPPs and is already operational. 25 landowners were economically displaced for the power line right of way and paid compensation in 2016, in accordance with local land acquisition laws and procedures. Although these infrastructures provided by GDC and KETRACO are essential for Orpower’s plant operation, they do not strictly meet the IFC Performance Standards (PSs) mutual dependency criteria for Associated Facilities (AFs) since they were designed to serve the three IPPs and would have been constructed and operated regardless of Orpower project’s implementation.Orpower has signed two 25-year agreements underpinning project operations: a Project Implementation and Steam Supply Agreement (PISSA) with GDC for geothermal steam supply, and a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) for electricity sales. All three IPPs in the Menengai field operate under Build-Own-Operate (BOO) contracts awarded by the Government of Kenya.