Formed 2008 Website Homepage Founded 2008 | Jurisdiction Kenya Headquarters Nairobi | |
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Agency executive , Gershom Bw’Omanwa
Chairman
Johnson ole Nchoe
CEO | ||
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The Geothermal Development Company (GDC), whose full name is Geothermal Development Company Limited, is a wholly owned parastatal of the government of Kenya. It is mandated to execute surface geothermal development, including prospecting, drilling, harnessing and selling steam to electricity generating companies for energy production and sale to the national grid.
Contents
9 members of geothermal development company tender committee charged with abuse of office
Location
The headquarters of GDC are located in he capital city of Nairobi, on Red Cross Road, in the neighborhood known as South C. The coordinates of GDC's headquarters are: 1°19'32.0"S, 36°49'56.0"E (Latitude:-1.325558; Longitude:36.832222).
Overview
In 2006, Kenya enacted the Energy Act No. 12 of 2006. The energy sector was unbundled into 5 sub-sectors: (a) generation (b) transmission (c) distribution (d) regulation and (e) policy. The country was heavily dependent on hydroelectric energy from the time of independence until the early 2000s. Due to unpredictable rainfall patterns, the levels of the country's rivers fell and Kenya underwent a marked reduction in electricity output in the 2003 to 2006 time frame.
The country has vast undeveloped geothermal potential along the Rift Valley, in excess of 10,000 MW. As at 2012, only 212.5MW of geothermal power was contributed to the national electric grid. As a response to these realities and to fulfill a pledge to install 5,000 MW of electricity by the year 2030, the Kenya Government, in 2008 incorporated Geothermal Development Company to carry out rapid geothermal exploration and drilling to allow independent power producers (IPPs) to build power stations and not only increase but diversify the national electricity grid.
Outside development partners have offered help. GDC has plans to develop academic courses in geothermal energy at Kenyan universities, starting with courses at Dedan Kimathi University of Technology.
Recent developments
In November 2015, seven senior managers at GDC were terminated due to tendering irregularities. In August 2016, replacements for those terminated executives were advertised. In the 12 months ending 30 June 2015, the agency is reported to have made an aftertax profit of KES:1.6 billion (USD:16 million).