A commercial farm in Kenya has become Africa's first electricity producer powered by biogas to sell surplus electricity to the national grid, cutting the carbon emissions associated with oil-powered generation.
The Gorge Farm Energy Park in Naivasha produces two megawatts (MW) of electricity - more than enough to cultivate its 706 hectares of vegetables and flowers, and with sufficient surplus to meet the power needs of 5000 to 6000 rural homes.
The new plant generates not only electricity, but also heat for the farm's greenhouses, with fertiliser as a by-product.
Gorge Farm, approximately 76km northwest of Kenya's capital, Nairobi, is owned by the Vegpro Group, a leading east African exporter of fresh vegetables and its second largest exporter of roses.
Biojoule Kenya, the independent power producer that operates the Gorge Farm plant, signed an agreement to sell electricity to Kenya Power & Lighting Company (KPLC), the country's sole power distributor, last year.
Biojoule Kenya sells the power to Gorge Farm and to KPLC for R1.58 per kilowatt hour (kWh).
Diesel-generated power, by contrast, costs about R5.20 per kWh to produce.
Kenyan farm a power player
A commercial farm in Kenya has become Africa's first electricity producer powered by biogas to sell surplus electricity to the national grid, cutting the carbon emissions associated with oil-powered generation.
The Gorge Farm Energy Park in Naivasha produces two megawatts (MW) of electricity - more than enough to cultivate its 706 hectares of vegetables and flowers, and with sufficient surplus to meet the power needs of 5000 to 6000 rural homes.
The new plant generates not only electricity, but also heat for the farm's greenhouses, with fertiliser as a by-product.
Gorge Farm, approximately 76km northwest of Kenya's capital, Nairobi, is owned by the Vegpro Group, a leading east African exporter of fresh vegetables and its second largest exporter of roses.
Biojoule Kenya, the independent power producer that operates the Gorge Farm plant, signed an agreement to sell electricity to Kenya Power & Lighting Company (KPLC), the country's sole power distributor, last year.
Biojoule Kenya sells the power to Gorge Farm and to KPLC for R1.58 per kilowatt hour (kWh).
Diesel-generated power, by contrast, costs about R5.20 per kWh to produce.
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