Amu Power confirms construction of coal fired power plant in Kenya

A consortium that is tasked with the construction of a coal fired power plant in Kenya Amu power, has confirmed that the building of the plant in Lamu will commence next year in January.

Amu Power is a company formed by a consortium of Centum and Gulf Energy.

The community liaison officer for Amu power Aboud Sheikhalifa confirmed the reports and said that all plans are set and ready for construction to begin.

“The construction is slated to begin on January 15, 2016 and all the plans are in place to make sure that everything goes on as scheduled,” said Mr. Sheikhalifa.

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Duma Works launches recruitment services for agribusinesses

Kenyan online and SMS-based recruitment platform Duma Works has announced the launch of an affordable hiring and employment package specifically catering to local agribusinesses.

Citing the fact that the agricultural sector in Kenya is a key contributor to the country’s economy and accounts for 60 per cent of total employment, Duma Works said the majority of this economy – around 80 per cent of it is not formalized and thus excluded from professional hiring services and employment agencies.

This realisation prompted the move by Duma Works to offer low-cost recruitment services to the agricultural sector, with the company offering agribusinesses a 40 per cent discount per hire on Duma Works’ basic plan, and a 60 per cent discount on its advanced plan.

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Kenya bets on solar power to bridge supply gap

The government is banking on solar power plants to bridge the electricity supply gap as it races to meet its target of increasing generation capacity by 5,000 megawatts by the end of next year.

Energy and Petroleum Principal Secretary Joseph Njoroge last week said he energy ministry is currently evaluating “numerous” proposals from investors to set up solar plants around the country before they strike power-purchase deals with Kenya Power.

“We have always preferred to use the least cost sources of electricity. However, the uptake of solar locally has been slowed by research to reduce the rates at which this form of energy is fed to the national grid,” said Mr Njoroge.

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Kenya closer to regional power trade

Kenya’s plans to buy electricity from Ethiopia have reached a critical stage, with the expected signing of a $231 million (Sh23.6 billion) agreement to start construction of transmission infrastructure.

The Kenya Transmission Company (Ketraco) will tomorrow ink a deal with the African Development Bank (AfDB), World Bank and French Development Agency (AFD), who will finance the project. A consortium of Siemens AG (Germany) and IsoluxIngeniera SA (Spain) will be the contractors.

In 2011, Kenya, through electricity distributor Kenya Power, reached a deal with Ethiopia’s Electric Power Company (EEP) to import 400 megawatts of electricity to boost local capacity, which is below demand at just 2,298 MW. However, the absence of carrier infrastructure has delayed the implementation of this agreement.

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