Infrastructure

Lake Turkana Wind Power: Africa’s Energy Jewel

The wind farm comprises 365 turbines, each capable of generating 850 kilowatts of energy.

Updated on

December 30, 2019

Wind turbines at the Lake Turkana Wind Farm in Marsabit County. PHOTO | LTWP

Lake Turkana Wind Power Project (LTWP), the single largest private investment in Kenya’s history, is a 310MW wind farm in Loiyangalani, a remote village in northern Kenya near the Lake Turkana basin – about 600km from Nairobi.

The wind farm, which sits on 40,000 acres, is the brainchild of the LTWP – a consortium comprising KP&P Africa B.V. and Aldwych International as co-developers, Investment Fund for Developing Countries, Vestas Eastern Africa Ltd., Finnish Fund for Industrial Cooperation Ltd., KLP Norfund Investments AS, and Sandpiper.

The Sh70 billion wind farm comprises 365 turbines, each with a capacity to generate 850 kilowatts of energy. The turbines were supplied by Denmark’s Vestas Wind Systems, which is also providing the maintenance of the plant.

Lake Turkana Wind Power aims to provide 310 MW of reliable, low-cost wind power, enough to power one million homes. The power is evacuated from the project via 400 kV high voltage power lines to a substation in Suswa, where it integrates into the national grid.

The power produced is sold to Kenya Power at a fixed price valid over 20 years under the Power Purchase Agreement between the two parties.

The project, whose construction began in October 2014, was completed in January 2017. However, the line evacuating the power generated was not completed until July 2019.

Lake Turkana Wind Power was due to start generating power in June 2011 but the project stalled after the World Bank declined to provide guarantees to its financiers.

However, in May 2015, 11 multi-lateral lenders among them the Africa Development Bank (AfDB), Standard Bank, PTA Bank, European Investment Bank and East Africa Development Bank signed a loan for the wind farm – giving the ambitious project a new lifeline.

During construction, an estimated 2,500 workers were hired. Currently, the power station has a reported 200 full-time staff.