Kenya: Munich Re provides cover for renewable energy project
Source: Middle East Insurance Review | Sep 2015
Munich Re said it will provide risk insurance for geothermal exploration works at the 140 MW Akiira geothermal power project in the Kenyan Rift Valley. Under a new portfolio concept, the German insurer is covering risk on a series of eight wells that is characterised by so-called high enthalpy, i.e. especially high sub-ground temperatures.
Mr Thomas Blunck, a member of Munich Re’s Board of Management, said: “The Kenyan geothermal project will harness a form of renewable energy where it is most promising and urgently needed. The multi-well concept provides flexibility and security to the developer and the investors.”
The exploration risk insurance covers the risk of insufficient output due to lack of geothermal resources, and is quite often a prerequisite for the financing of geothermal projects, said Munich Re.
The project is located south west of Naivasha, Kenya and is currently being developed in two 70 MW phases by Akiira Geothermal Limited (AGL).
The Akiira project will be Munich Re’s first geothermal insurance project in Africa. It is also the first privately owned geothermal project in Kenya to be developed in many years. The drillings are located in the East African Rift System, around 100 kilometres from the capital Nairobi and near the Olkaria field, where about 500 MW in geothermal facilities are already in operation.