Infrastructure

Turkana Wind Project Finally Gets Under Way

The wind farm will sit on 40,000 acres in Loiyangalani district, Marsabit County.

Updated on

July 3, 2015

Lake Turkana Wind Power turbines. — Engineers work on a turbine foundation in Marsabit County. PHOTO | FILE

After years of preparation, construction has finally begun on a Sh72 billion wind farm on the southeastern shore of Lake Turkana in northern Kenya.

The Lake Turkana wind farm, which is touted as Africa’s largest wind project, will feature 365 Vestas V52-850kW turbine generators capable of generating 310MW of low-cost electricity.

The wind farm will sit on 40,000 acres in Loiyangalani district, Marsabit, stretching from 450 metres at the shore of Lake Turkana to 2,300 metres above sea level at the top of Mt Kulal.

The Lake Turkana Wind Power (LTWP), a subsidiary of KP&P – a Netherlands-based builder of wind farms, is responsible for the financing, construction, and operation of the wind farm.

The firm will transmit 310MW to the national grid through a 428 km overhead line that is being built by the Kenya Electricity Transmission Company with concessional funding from the Spanish government.

The electricity will be bought by Kenya Power at a tariff of Sh9 per kilowatt hour over 20 years per a signed Power Purchase Agreement (PPA).

“We aim to plug a power shortfall and offer cheaper electricity. The first 90MW of electricity out of the total 310MW will be commissioned in September next year, once the transmission line is in place,” said Carlo Van Wageningen, LTWP director.

The Turkana wind farm 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 last year, the wind farm received a new lifeline when 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 project.

The Lake Turkana wind farm has recently attracted US-based internet giant Google, who are reportedly in early talks to buy an undisclosed stake in the project.

The transaction, if it goes through, will see Google becoming a minority shareholder in Africa’s largest wind farm, according to a recent CNBC report.

According to the LTWP board chairman Mugo Kibati, the project will save Kenya about Sh13 billion annually in foreign currency. It will also lower the fuel adjustment costs that reflect on electricity bills mainly due to the increased use of thermal resources.