Geothermal Development Company (GDC) steam well at Paka Hills in Silale,Baringo county.[Kipsang Joseph, Standard]

KenGen is planning to build a battery energy storage system that will store excess energy from its geothermal power plants in Olkaria to be used when demand goes up.

The government said recently it needs such energy storage facilities to enable the national electricity grid to cope with an increase in power plants that use energy sources such as wind and solar, which are not available in the evenings when there is a surge in power consumption.

State-owned electricity generating firm KenGen on Tuesday started the search for a consultant to undertake a feasibility study to guide it in the installation of a battery energy storage system (BESS).

The system is expected to store electricity generated using geothermal power, which according to KenGen, is left idle during off-peak consumption hours.

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