Reported by Reuters, “Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen) (KEGN.NR) said on Thursday it had regulatory approval for a 15 billion shilling (US$197 million) bond whose proceeds it plans to use on an additional 500 MW of capacity.”

This announcement is quite good news, as the company plans to further develop the geothermal resources of the country with the proceeds, as current droughts have made hydro power less reliable for power generation in the country.

Reuters continues “”This is an important milestone in the preparation for the public infrastructure bond offer,” KenGen’s managing director Eddy Njoroge said in a statement. “Plans are on course to bring the bond to the market in an effort to access funds to finance our capacity expansion programme.”

KenGen said Standard Chartered Bank (SCBK.NR) was the lead arranger, KPMG auditors are the financial advisers, and Standard Investment Bank the lead sponsoring broker.

The firm produces about 80 percent of Kenya’s electricity output, which is mostly generated at dams, but wants to expand its geothermal capacity by about 500 MW by 2012.

Insufficient rainfall over the last couple of years has seen its dams almost dry up and forced the country into power shortages. All households now endure day-long cuts thrice a week.

KenGen was forced to close down a 14 MW hydro-electricity station due to the drought and has contracted an independent producer to provide thermal-generated power by October.”

Source: Reuters