Business
Kenya: Wind Power generation – getting closer to reality
Wind farm located at the Ngong Hills near Nairobi, Kenya. PHOTO/File
The Lake Turkana Wind Power Project (LTWP)– a 300-megawatt proposal for the northeast part of Kenya is getting closer to reality.
(More: Kenya to become regional leader in green energy: Set to build huge windfarm)
The project co-financed by the Kenya Government, various international lenders aims to provide low cost wind power at a cost of US$ 894 million.
The project will open up northern Kenya and South Sudan for trade and allow for other potential investors to set up new businesses.
The developers need over 300 kilometers of road built in order to get materials to the site.
The developers need transmission lines and sub-stations.
A US$ 38 million tender for building transmission lines and access roads was awarded to Civicon Kenya Ltd. on Monday.
Civicon Kenya Ltd., will rehabilitate 204 kilometres of access roads and another 109 kilometres within the site.
Construction and rehabilitation of the road will take approximately 15 months, paving way for the delivery of the wind turbines and the transformers to the site.
Construction on the power plant will begin immediately there after and it is projected that up to 90 megawatts of electricity could be commissioned by early 2014.
The Kenya Electricity Transmission Company Ltd (Ketraco) has said it would start construction of a double circuit 400kv, 428km transmission line next month to deliver the electricity to consumers.
The Lake Turkana Wind Power consortium comprises KP&P Africa B.V. and Aldwych International as co-developers, Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa (IDC), Industrial Fund for Developing Countries (IFU), Wind Power A.S. (Vestas) and Norwegian Investment Fund for Developing Countries (Norfund).
Aldwych, an Africa focused power company, will oversee the construction and operations of the power plant on behalf of LTWP.
Vestas will maintain the plant in contract with LTWP.
The wind powered electricity generated will be purchased at a fixed price by Kenya Power over a 20-year period in accordance with the signed Power Purchase Agreement.
The lead arranger of the debt financing is the African Development Bank with Standard Bank of South Africa and Nedbank Capital of South Africa as co-arrangers.