News and Events

Nairobi, 26th August 2021: Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen) PLC has launched a youth empowerment program dubbed Y-Gen, that seeks to promote career development of young employees as part of the Company’s diversity mainstreaming agenda.

Launched under the slogan ‘The Future is Now’, KenGen has now moved to register the Y-Gen Youth Empowerment Program with relevant government bodies and also seek to trademark its logo, becoming the first public institution in Kenya to do so.

Speaking during the virtual launch ceremony, KenGen Managing Director and CEO, Mrs. Rebecca Miano, said the youth constitute about 30% of the total staff complement in KenGen making them a key component in the delivery of the company’s growth strategy.

"Y-Gen presents a golden opportunity to groom thinkers, doers, current and tomorrow's leaders. As KenGen continues its journey into the rest of the continent under the diversification strategy, those within the Y-Gen bracket are truly the carriers and implementers of the company's global aspirations," said Mrs. Miano.

Mrs. Miano went on to state that KenGen was focused on delivering its long-term business strategy anchored on three pillars including value creation, lowering cost of electricity, and increasing generation capacity to boost and drive national development.

She said the youth will be a big part of delivering the robust strategy and therefore the need to have a forum dedicated to addressing the special needs of the young employees within KenGen.

Mrs. Miano went on to encourage young people to embrace good practices that will help them grow professionally and at a personal level but also warned against harmful practices like alcohol, drug, and substance abuse, indiscipline among others which she said would derail an employee’s progress at work.

Also speaking during the Launch was KenGen Board of Director Ms. Peris Mwangi who said that Y-Gen initiative will help young people grow professionally and realize their full potential.

During the launch, KenGen management unveiled four key pillars of the initiative that include: Y-Gen Strategy Alignment, Y-Gen Brand Development and Outreach, Y-Gen Wellness and Y-Gen Pamoja that would inform the implementation of the forum’s strategy going forward.

As part of alignment of the organization to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs,) KenGen as a company has also mainstreamed other areas including gender through its Pink Energy Initiative, which earlier this year won a gender mainstreaming award issued by the Government of Kenya, through the Ministry of Public Service and Gender.

The Y- Gen launch comes at a time when the world on August 12, 2021, marked the International Youth Day that seeks to bring the youth in the forefront in championing development issues across the world.

Nairobi, 18th August 2021: Kenya Electricity Generating Company PLC (KenGen) has surpassed a crucial stage in the ongoing USD 6.2 million geothermal drilling contract in Ethiopia further giving impetus to its corporate diversification strategy.

The team of KenGen engineers have so far crossed the 450 meters of drilling depth of the first of eight geothermal wells for the state-owned electricity producer, Ethiopia Electric Power Company which commenced in May this year amid COVID-19.

“The first 450 meters is the most difficult phase of the entire geothermal well drilling process which can go upto a depth of 3,000 meters,” said Managing Director and CEO, Rebecca Miano adding, “this particular one is being done under peculiar circumstances including unforeseen delays occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic.”

“We will be drilling at a rate of about 50 meters per day going forward and therefore expect to complete the remaining part on schedule in about two months,” said Mrs. Miano.

In February 2019, KenGen won a joint contract with Shandong Kerui Petroleum Equipment Company and Shandong Kerui Oilfield Service Group to offer geothermal drilling services. The project is being managed between the two consortium members under the contract.

"We are glad that the progress of drilling at Aluto-Langano is remarkable, and optimistic our team will deliver it within the set timelines. We commend our team for surpassing the 450 metres depth of drilling, overcoming all the challenges usually encountered at the initial stages of drilling a geothermal well," said Miano.

She added: "We have a team of experts comprised of aerated drillers, directional drillers, and reservoir engineers actively working on this project and have also dispatched a team to mobilize a second rig to fast track the process and achieve our goal of drilling eight wells much faster.”

The drilling of the second geothermal well under the Aluto-Langano project started early this week and was at a depth of 36 meters by Wednesday August 18, 2021.

KenGen is hopeful that under the ongoing project, which is financed by the World Bank through a loan to the Ethiopian Government, depending on the outcomes of Lot 1 wells, an additional 12 wells may be drilled under Lot 2 of the contact to bring the total to 20 wells.

At the same time, also in the Horn of Africa, under a contract signed in October 2019, KenGen has completed drilling two geothermal wells for Tulu Moye Geothermal Operations PLC (TMGO) in Ethiopia and is currently drilling the third well.

These two projects are hinged on the Company’s diversification strategy which has led to the organization’s expansion in the Horn of Africa. Besides Ethiopia, KenGen has also secured a Ksh.709 million project to offer commercial drilling services in Djibouti.

In February this year, the company signed the contract with Office Djiboutien De Development De lenergie Geothermique (Djiboutian Office of Geothermal Energy Development) (ODDEG). KenGen is also prospecting for similar businesses in Rwanda.

Kenya is Africa’s largest geothermal energy producer and among the top 10 in the world. The country has an estimated potential of 10,000MW along the Rift Valley.