NEWS

Kenya is set to commission Lake Turkana Wind Power (LTWP) in Marsabit County, which is the largest wind farm in Africa by President Uhuru Kenyatta.

Construction of the mega wind power farm was completed in last year but could not produce power since the Spanish firm contracted to develop the transmission line filed for bankruptcy. However, two Chinese firms took over the construction of the 428 km electricity transmission line to evacuate the power and completed the infrastructure in August this year.

Lake Turkana Wind Power 

The wind farm has an installed capacity of 310MW of clean, reliable, low-cost energy and has 365 wind turbines with a capacity of 850kW each. The project went ahead and was connected to the national grid in of October last year after test on the wind turbines were done after which it was handed the power transmission line that evacuates power from the plant to the grid in Suswa, Narok County

LTWP signed a 20-year power purchase agreement with the country’s sole power distributor Kenya Power and Lighting Company over a 20-year period in accordance with the Power Purchase Agreement.

The project proponent is the LTWP consortium comprising KP&P Africa B.V and Aldwych International as co-developers, Investment Fund for Developing Countries, Vestas Eastern Africa Limited, Finnish Fund for Industrial Cooperation Ltd, KLP Norfund Investments AS and Sandpiper.

The wind farm project is a major boost to the country’s international commitments to lower greenhouse gas emissions. Globally, Kenya is celebrated as one of the leading countries in the world with an energy mix dominated with renewable sources especially from geothermal, a technology in which our country has become a continental centre of excellence. According to the ministry of energy, there was an installed capacity of 2,712 Megawatts with the country consuming a maximum of 1,860MW leaving a surplus of about 900MW.