Geothermal Power
Geothermal vents arise in locations where the earth crusts thins out and the mantle comes closer to the surface. The most spectacular vents are the geysers and fumaroles that can be seen at Lake Bogoria, some 150 km North of Naivasha Town. A geothermal power plant, owned by KenGen, was developed already during the 1930s on the southern shore of Lake Naivasha. The Ol Karia Power Plant has recently undergone significant enlargement. It is the first established and the largest geothermal power plant in Africa. According to developers, the Rift Valley, globally recognised as a regional biodiversity hotspot, has several other locations suitable for geothermal exlploitation. The future vision in the mind of power companies includes a continuous stream of geothermal power plants extending from Naivasha up to Bogoria in what would become the largest assemblage of geothermal power plants in the world. This capacity woould promote the nation's capacity as well as provide plenty of extra supply for export. Current on-going works are conducted in collaboration with Chinese drilling and power generating companies, some of which are known to use convicts housed in camps situated on the southern lake shore. Current developments included the building of large tarmac road across Hell's Gate National Park and prospection drills in the Eburru Forest Reserve. Environmentally caring citizens are deeply concerned about the lack of transparency concerning these operations and the lack of detailed environmental impact assessment. An unknown but presumable substantial amount of lake water is being pumped down the geothermal wells to produce steam under pression for operating the turbines. This accelerated comsumption of the lake waters contributes in exacerbating the consequences of drought during low water level periods.
