National Cement, a cement manufacturer in Kenya, is planning to construct a new coal-fired power plant in Kajiado in the country, in a bid to source power for its operations.
The new coal-fired power plant in the area will power the company’s mining and clinker manufacturing unit that is also planned. The company is expanding the capacity of its clinker to reach a capacity of 1.7 million tones from the current 600, 000 tones.
Clinker from this plant will be transported to the company’s manufacturing unit in Lukenya for further processing into cement. Clinker is produced by heating a mixture of water and clay at high temperatures, and converted to cement by mixing it with small amounts of gypsum.
The planned coal-fired power plant is National Cement’s strategy to deal with delays in connecting to the grid, as well as high costs of electricity. According to an Environmental Impact Assessment report, companies pay twice as much when procuring electricity from Kenya Power as they would pay to use coal-generated power.
This is a crucial step considering that cement production/manufacturing is a intensive power consuming process. Companies are paying up to US$0.18 per kilowatt hour in Kenya by buying from the national grid, while coal power would cost them US$0.15 per kilowatt hour based on current international coal prices.
The Lamu coal plant project will cost US$2bn and, although there have been issues sorrounding construction, the project bid was won by Gulf Energy Limited and Centum Investment Company Limited.
NEMA please undertake a through due diligence on this project to avoid increased pollution in Nairobi.