Olkaria I is a 185 MW geothermal power station in Nakuru, Kenya. It is operated by Kenya Electric Generating Company. Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 347k homes (estimated). It ranks #8 of 34 Kenya power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1981, it is around 45 years old — long-established. As a non-combustion source, it has no direct CO₂ emissions from generation. In context, geothermal supplies about 45.9% of Kenya's electricity; the national grid averages 95 gCO₂/kWh (90.0% low-carbon) (2025).
Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id WRI1061218.
Known, modelled and calculated values are kept separate. Missing fields are shown as unavailable.
The capacity and fuel fields on this page are source-record values from the upstream open dataset. They are useful for identification and ranking, but they have not been upgraded to a 2026 registry/GEM-location verified value.
capacity: WRI Global Power Plant Database source-record (legacy); fuel: WRI source-record fuel
At 185 MW, Olkaria I is well above the median geothermal plant in Kenya (140 MW). Geothermal plants tap underground heat to raise steam for a turbine; they provide steady, low-carbon baseload but are limited to geologically active regions.
Capacity comparison computed from the WRI Global Power Plant Database; fuel-type context is general engineering background.
Installed capacity (MW), WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0).
Operated by Kenya Electric Generating Company. All plants by this company →
This geothermal plant taps underground heat to raise steam that drives a turbine. It sits in a temperate oceanic climate (Köppen Cfb) — Southern Hemisphere, latitude 0.9°S — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.
Monthly mean temperature
Heating degree-days here run 79% below the median power plant in this dataset — a proxy for how much extra energy heated equipment must replace through its surfaces in winter.
Climate heat-demand index: 21/100 — this site sits in the bottom third of the power plants we cover by heating degree-days.
Climate normals: WorldClim 2.1 (1970–2000 monthly normals, 10 arc-min, CC BY 4.0); zone: Köppen-Geiger world climate classification (Kottek et al. 2006, 0.5° grid). Degree-days & heat-demand index computed by PowerAtlas — a modelled heat-demand proxy, not a measured site figure.
For a plant’s outdoor hardware — heat-recovery steam generators (HRSG), expansion joints, valves, flanges and their insulation — the local climate sets how fast unprotected steel and coatings degrade. This site sits in a moderately corrosive environment (estimated ISO 9223 class C3 — Medium), with humidity / wetness the leading environmental stress.
Higher environmental severity is exactly where protective removable insulation pays back most: a sheltered micro-climate slows corrosion, UV and thermal-cycling damage and extends outdoor hardware service life. This is an indicative site-climate context — not a condition assessment of any specific plant or operator.
Indicative estimate via the ISO 9223:2012 informative method (atmospheric corrosivity from temperature, time-of-wetness and airborne salinity), using WorldClim climate normals, the Köppen-Geiger class and coast distance. Indicative, not a measured corrosion rate.
The #1 largest geothermal power plant of 6 in Kenya by capacity.
Kenya has 6 geothermal power plants in this dataset, together about 754 MW of capacity.
Coordinates -0.8933, 36.3086 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
Olkaria I is a 185 MW source-record geothermal power plant in Nakuru, Kenya, commissioned in 1981.
Its output is enough to supply roughly 347,271 homes (estimated).
Olkaria I is operated by Kenya Electric Generating Company.
