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GEOTHERMAL TRAINING PROGRAMMEMwangi, M.: Geothermal in Kenya and AfricaReports 2005Number 4, 41-50LECTURE 4KENYA’S GEOTHERMAL PROSPECTS OUTSIDE OLKARIA:STATUS OF EXPLORATION AND DEVELOPMENTGodwin M. MwawongoKenya Electricity Generating Company Ltd,Olkaria Geothermal ProjectP.O. Box 785, Naivasha 20117KENYAgmwawongo@kengen.co.keABSTRACTImplementation of the geothermal resource assessment program (GRA) hasresulted in exploration studies being done in five other prospects in the Kenyan riftbetween 2004 and 2005. The same studies in all the geothermal prospects north ofLake Baringo will be complete by 2010. So far Menengai is ranked first followedby Longonot and Suswa. For prospects with no central volcano, L Baringo isranked last after L Bogoria and Arus. Over 6,838 MWt is lost naturally from thealready explored geothermal prospects in the rift. Areas of heat leakages in the riftare controlled by NW-SE trending faults. At Olkaria, over 84,800 GWH have beengenerated from geothermal resulting to a saving of over 4,900 million US$ inforeign exchange.1. INTRODUCTIONKenya is located in the eastern part of Africa with 14geothermal prospects identified in the Kenya riftstarting from Barrier in the north to L Magadi in thesouth with an estimated potential of over 2000 MWe(Omenda et al., 2000). Studies done in the rift in mid1960 identified Olkaria as the most economicalprospect to develop (KPC, 1994). Exploration andfield development was then done leading to theestablishment of sectors which form the Great OlkariaGeothermal area (GOGA) currently with an installedcapacity of 130 MWe. Over 84,800 GWH have beengenerated from geothermal resulting to a saving ofover 4,900 million US$ in fossil fuel cost.Performance of Olkaria power plants indicate thatgeothermal power is cheap and feasible and for thisreason the Government of Kenya (GOK) throughKenGen implemented a geothermal resourceassessment program (GRA) aimed at systematicallyexploring all the geothermal prospects outside Olkariawith the aim of ranking them for further development.FIGURE 1: Geothermal fields inthe Kenyan Rift41