Kenya plans to build its first floating natural-gas-fired power plant at an estimated cost of KSh39 billion. The facility will be mounted on a barge at Dongo Kundu in Mombasa and will have the capacity to generate up to 1,200 MW of electricity. The cost estimate is based on National Treasury projections that investors will own and operate the plant for 30 years to recover their investment under a Build-Own-Operate or Build-Own-Operate-Transfer model.
The plant will run on liquefied natural gas (LNG), which Kenya expects to obtain from Tanzania under a 2021 agreement to construct a pipeline linking Mtwara to the port of Mombasa. Kenya has no confirmed LNG reserves of its own.
The Ministry of Energy and Petroleum stated that LNG-to-power projects provide a flexible, comparatively quick-to-deploy, lower-carbon transitional option that strengthens energy security and supports industrial growth.
The project aims to reduce dependence on thermal power, which costs $0.269 (KSh34.95) per unit, compared with $0.025 (KSh3.26) for locally generated hydropower, and to cut the fuel surcharge that contributes to sharply higher consumer bills. Disclosures indicate that the plant will be developed in stages, with 300,000 kW installed this year, a similar capacity added by 2028, and 600,000 kW brought online in 2032.
Kenya Power currently sources electricity from seven thermal plants. Two plants on the coast supplied a combined 77 per cent of the 1.04 billion kilowatt-hours of thermal power purchased in the year ended June 2025.
If successfully implemented, the project would place Kenya alongside African economies such as Mozambique, Algeria, Egypt and Tunisia, which depend heavily on natural gas for electricity generation.