Kenya is in negotiations with Dangote Industries over a proposed 1,000MW LNG-based power facility to be integrated into the planned Lamu refinery development. The power plant would form a core component of an emerging energy hub at Lamu, designed to serve refinery operations, the surrounding industrial zone, and potentially feed into Kenya's national grid.
The Lamu refinery project has been valued at $16 billion, making it one of the most significant proposed energy infrastructure investments in East Africa. The addition of a dedicated LNG power generation component signals an ambition to make Lamu not just a refining centre but a self-sustaining industrial energy node. By embedding power generation within the refinery complex, the developers aim to reduce dependency on Kenya's grid while enabling industrial expansion in the broader Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia Transport corridor zone.
Dangote Industries, the Nigerian conglomerate with established interests in refining and energy across Africa, is the named counterparty in Kenya's negotiations. The proposed 1,000MW capacity figure positions this as a utility-scale project, substantially larger than a typical captive power installation. If completed, it would represent a meaningful addition to Kenya's total installed generation capacity and could alter the energy economics of the entire Lamu industrial corridor.
The LNG dimension is particularly notable. Kenya has been advancing its LNG import infrastructure ambitions for several years, and anchoring LNG demand to a large-scale industrial complex such as this refinery would provide the offtake certainty typically required to justify upstream LNG supply agreements and import terminal investment. A project of this scale would require gas supply arrangements, regasification or import infrastructure, and long-term fuel delivery logistics — all of which remain subjects for further negotiation and planning.
At this stage, the project remains in a negotiation phase, and no final investment decision, construction timeline, or confirmed financial close has been reported. However, the scale of ambition and the identity of the counterparty suggest the discussions are substantive. Kenya's government appetite to anchor industrial development at Lamu adds a policy dimension that could accelerate permitting and offtake frameworks if commercial terms are agreed.