SMAR Equips the Geothermal Energy Sector

The use of geothermal energy emanated as underground steam has grown in the past few years. An excellent example has occurred since 2000 with the Olkaria System, located in Kenya, East Africa (120 km from Nairobi). The system has already exploited some 84 MW with the Olkaria I and II plants, in an area with a 2000 MW extracting capacity.

In order to increase the station’s output, the Kenyan group will build the third Olkaria unit to work with nine separate 1800m to 2800m deep wells. Ormat, the integrator and SMAR Representative coordinated with Olkaria System and Technomad (SMAR’s representative in Israel). They acquired pressure, level and flow transmitters to provide the cooling system for the steam used to produce electric power production. With this instrumentation, Olkaria III will spend less water steam than the first plant, resulting in a decrease from 9.2 [t/h]/[MW] to 7.5 [t/h]/[MW].

The Kenyan government has approved the establishment of a company to manage the development of geothermal energy. GDC plans are to subsidize the activity utilizing public investment for the Olkaria system.