KenGen, Kenya’s largest power producer, and Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) recently reached an agreement to build the city’s first waste-using power plant.
The project is expected to convert 2,500 tonnes of waste per day into electricity at the city’s landfill, Dandora, in Nairobi. Adopting this waste recycling innovation is a strategic decision for KenGen, given that there are only 1,700 thermal waste-to-energy plants in the world, over 80% of which are located in developed countries. Currently only four are in Africa.
The project will benefit not only KenGen shareholders, but more importantly the community surrounding the overflow landfill, which over the years has been a threat to the environment. The Dandora landfill is saturated to more than three times its capacity, containing over 1.8 million tonnes of solid waste against a capacity of 500,000 tonnes. More than 2,500 tonnes of waste continue to flow onto the site daily.
Through this investment, KenGen strives to create both economic value by diversifying its power generation portfolio and shared value for society as part of the company’s sustainability agenda.
Source: Tsirisoa R.
