Steve Martin is a Mechanical Engineer and the Group CEO, Founder and Partner of KS Energy Group of Companies. He has more than 30 years of experience in energy project development, business growth, and operations across Turkey, Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and Africa, with a strong technical and commercial background in power generation and oil and gas projects.
His career spans business and project development, sales, construction management, and long-term operations and maintenance of power stations, as well as upstream oil and gas exploration and production. Prior to founding KS Energy in 2007, he held senior leadership roles at GE Energy, where he led the establishment and consolidation of a sub-region comprising 19 countries across Central and Eastern Europe. In this role, he developed and executed regional strategies across GE Energy’s full portfolio, including large and small thermal turbines, oil and gas, services, nuclear, wind, and hydro technologies, helping create a new regional operating focus within the company.
Mr. Martin has been closely involved in coal-bed methane exploration activities in Botswana, as well as EPC contracting and conceptual design for multiple power generation facilities. He also established KS Energy’s Operations and Maintenance group, which is fully trained and qualified on GE and Siemens gas turbines, as well as Wärtsilä, MAN, Caterpillar, and Jenbacher gas engines.
Under his leadership, KS Energy has grown into a leading Africa-based energy company with major operations in Southern Africa and Nigeria. The company successfully developed and commissioned the 90MW Orapa Power Station in Botswana, which entered commercial operation in August 2010. In recognition of its pioneering role as Botswana’s first Independent Power Producer, KS Energy received the African Power Generation Competitive Strategy Leadership Award from Frost & Sullivan in 2012.
From its base in Botswana, KS Energy expanded into Nigeria, building a substantial operational organization and managing an African fleet of more than 12 gas turbines (including GE and Siemens units) and numerous gas engines under long-term operations and maintenance contracts. KS Energy is also a shareholder in the 141MW Aba Integrated Power Project in Nigeria, serving as EPC contractor for the power plant and distribution substation and as long-term operator of the facility.
Mr. Martin’s professional focus is on developing new energy solutions for Sub-Saharan Africa that are technically robust, commercially viable, and locally integrated. KS Energy’s vision is to deliver holistic, indigenous, and sovereign power solutions based on hybrid systems that combine renewable energy sources, such as solar, with LNG or other flexible generation technologies, supporting regional power pool markets while promoting environmental sustainability and economic development.
In 2018, he was honored as the 70th member and the first Native American engineer elected to the University of North Dakota Alumni Academy.
https://engineering.und.edu/outreach/_files/docs/alumni-academy/steve-martin.pdf