Thika IPP

completed

The project involves the design, construction and operation of an 87 megawatt (“MW”) heavy fuel oil power plant (‘the project”) located 5 km from the town Thika which is some 38 km north-east of Nairobi, the capital city of Kenya. Electricity generated by the project will be supplied to the Kenya Power and Lighting Company (“KPLC”), the national transmission and distribution company. The project is one of 3 Independent Power Projects (“IPPs”) for which KPLC sought Expressions of Interests in June 2009 and have been awarded based on a completive bidding process. The IPPs are expected to generate 60-80 MW each using heavy fuel oils (“HFO”) as the fuel source. _x000B_The project is being developed by Thika Power (hereafter referred to the “Company “or “Thika Power”). Thika Power is a special purposes company registered in Kenya and wholly owned by Melec PowerGen (BVI), which is part of the Matelec Group of Companies (Lebanon). Construction commenced in June 2011 and is currently limited to earthworks. Commissioning of the project is expected in early 2013. The project site was acquired by KPLC and will be leased to Thika Power. Adjacent to the site which occupies some 4 ha, KPLC are constructing a 132 kV substation which is similarly some 4 ha in extent. The project will consist of a simple cycle power block with five engine powered generator sets, and one steam turbine. The engines will have a combined generation capacity of 80 MW, while the waste heat from the exhaust gases emitted from the engine-generator sets will be recovered to generate steam for the turbine. The latter will improve the project’s efficiency by generating an additional 7 MW. All electricity generated by the project will be fed into the adjacent KPLC substation. The national Energy Regulator has approved a Power Purchasing Agreement (“PPA”) between Thika Power and KPLC which will come into effect on the first day of operations and extend for a period of 20 years.