Business
Kenya to become regional leader in green energy: Set to build huge windfarm
Windfarm in Kenya
A financing deal for Kenya’s largest wind power farm will be concluded in the first quarter of 2012, its sponsors said, setting East Africa’s largest economy on the path to becoming the region’s leader in renewable energy.
Mr Carlo Van Wageningen, the chairman of Lake Turkana Wind Power, told participants at the climate change talks in Durban that conclusion of the deal paves the way for the €600 million (US$785 million) plant to produce the first 50 megawatts MW of electricity in the third quarter of next year before rising to full capacity a year later.
“We expect to close the financing deal in March or April 2012 and to have full production of 300 MW a year later,” he said in a presentation to showcase the project in Durban.
Once completed, it is expected to account for 22 percent Kenya’s electricity demand, in addition to the 400MW geothermal power that is expected to be on the national grid in the next four years.
