The power generation company’s Annual General Meeting approved a final dividend of Sh0.65 per share to be paid out to shareholders in February. The company is also set to embark on an ambitious growth strategy that will see it move to the top of the world in geothermal energy generation in the next five years after shareholders approved its capital restructuring plans.
KenGen will now seek clearance from the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) and the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) after getting the go-ahead for a planned Rights Issue during its 63rd Annual General Meeting (AGM).
KenGen has lined up a number of capital projects aimed at aggressively growing its generation capacity, mainly from the renewable geothermal sources, to be partly funded with the proceeds from the Rights Issue expected early next year.
According to KenGen Chairman, Joshua Choge, the company is targeting the installation of an additional 766 Megawatts (MW) by the year 2020, 676MW of which will come from geothermal sources.
KenGen has in the last year commissioned 268MW; 248MW from geothermal and 20.4MW from wind, boosting its total installed capacity to 1,611MW as at June 2015. The company currently accounts for 70% of the national installed capacity.
Output from the wellhead technology is expected to rise to 80MW in the first quarter of the year 2016, with plans to scale up the mobile wellhead power plants to 350MW by year 2025.
“The success of this innovative technology underscores the importance of continuing our strategy of leveraging on innovation and continuous improvement. This is how we can compete more effectively on the global stage as we continue to create value for shareholders,” the chairman said.
Mr. Choge at the same time disclosed that the company had begun the process of setting up an Industrial Park at the geothermal fields in Olkaria to host energy intensive industries, bringing the power load centre close to the source. The park is one of the means of proactively narrowing the existing supply demand gap as the industries will be located at close proximity to the power plants, thereby utilizing energy cost effectively. It will also help catalyze the growth of industries in and around Olkaria.
