Key Takeaways:
- Dangote Industries plans to build a 1,000MW power plant alongside its planned refinery in Lamu, Kenya.
- The power plant will have twice the generation capacity of the one supporting the Dangote refinery in Lagos.
- About 500MW of the electricity will be sold to the Kenyan government.
Dangote Industries plans to build a 1,000-megawatt power plant at its planned refinery in Lamu, Kenya, with half of the electricity expected to be sold to the government.
Aliko Dangote, President of Dangote Industries, disclosed the plan during Kenyan President William Ruto’s visit to the Dangote Petroleum Refinery in Lagos on Friday, Sept. 25. He said the Lamu facility would have twice the power-generation capacity of the company’s refinery complex in Lagos.
“We are going to have not only the refinery in Kenya, but also a power plant in Lamu, which will be double of what we have in Lagos,” Dangote said. “We are going to produce about 1,000MW in Lamu. We will sell about 500MW to the government of Kenya.”
The planned power plant will form part of the wider Lamu refinery and petrochemical complex, which is expected to have a crude-processing capacity of 700,000 barrels per day.
Lamu refinery to generate surplus power
Dangote said the 1,000MW power plant would provide electricity for the Lamu refinery while creating additional capacity that can be supplied to Kenya’s power system.
The sale of about 500MW to the Kenyan government would give the project a role beyond petroleum refining and provide additional electricity for the country’s grid.
The Lamu refinery is expected to become one of Dangote Industries’ largest projects outside Nigeria as the group expands its energy and industrial operations across Africa.
The company has not disclosed the full cost of the planned power plant or the expected timeline for its completion.
The project will also include processing equipment that is larger than some of the equipment installed at the Lagos refinery, Dangote said.
“Some of the equipment that we have here, like the RFCC, will be much heavier in Lamu,” he said.
Dangote expands Lamu energy complex
The power plant is part of Dangote’s wider plan to develop an integrated refinery and petrochemical complex in Lamu.
Kenya plans to break ground on the refinery project on Sept. 30, with the facility expected to process 700,000 barrels of crude oil per day. The project is intended to increase regional refining capacity and reduce dependence on imported petroleum products.
The development is also expected to create an additional source of electricity for Kenya as the country seeks to expand its power supply.
Dangote’s Lagos refinery currently operates alongside power-generation facilities that supply electricity to the company’s industrial complex. The proposed 1,000MW facility in Lamu would therefore represent a significant increase in the group’s power-generation capacity.
The project also adds a power-generation component to Dangote’s expansion into Kenya, where the company is seeking to establish a large-scale refining and petrochemical operation serving the wider East African market.
Ruto’s visit to the Lagos refinery came five days before the planned groundbreaking of the Lamu project, allowing the Kenyan president to tour Dangote’s existing refinery before construction begins on the larger East African complex.
