Geothermal energy is an indigenous, abundant, reliable and environmentally- friendly source of electricity.The creation of GDC was based on the government’s policy on energy - Sessional paper No. 4 of 2004, and the energy Act No.12 of 2006 - which unbundled the key players in the electricity sector to ensure efficiency. The search for geothermal energy is not new in Kenya. It started in 1957. But
this has so far yielded 209MW only against a massive potential estimated at 7000MW to 10,000MW. Evidently, the speed of harnessing geothermal resources has been too low necessitating the creation of GDC. Kenya’s GDP is expected to grow by at least 10% from 2012. In Vision 2030, Kenya aspires to become a mid-income economy. To attain Vision 2030, the government’s forecast is to generate 15,000 MW, 5000MW will come from geothermal. Today, the total effective installed capacity stands at 1330 MW. For a long time, Kenya has relied on hydroelectricity with perennial power outages forcing the government to invite emergency power producers who use diesel to generate electricity. This stop-gap measure is a two edged sword. First, it increases the cost of electricity and second, it causes massive pollution. The government has identified the country's untapped geothermal potential as the most suitable indigenous source of electricity. GDC will drill 1400 steam wells to provide steam for the generation of 5,000MW of geothermal power by 2030.
