Kenya’s Lake Turkana Wind Power Ltd (LTWP) has started testing the turbines at its $690m Marsabit wind farm for power generation. The project aims to feed 310MW of clean power into the national grid, Standard Digital reported. The firm is targeting to inject the first 90MW of wind power by the second quarter of 2017.
LTWP’s General Manager, Phylip Leferink, said the company has installed 40%, or 155 of the 365 turbines it needs, and had started testing them. Once completed, the project will be the largest wind farm in Africa. Kenya Power had agreed to a 20-year power purchase agreement at a fixed price of $0.084/kWh, according to ESI Africa.
The Kenya Electricity Transmission Company is currently constructing a double circuit 400kV, 438km transmission line that will be used to evacuated and transmitted the power to the national grid. Furthermore, the project is expected to play a critical role in reducing power costs in the country by increasing the amount of cheap electricity generated from renewable energy sources.
Other wind power projects that are in the pipeline include Kipeto Energy Wind Park in Kajiado County, Kinangop Wind Park in Nyandarua County and the planned Mount Meru Wind park in Meru County. KenGen is also undertaking expansion of its Ngong Wind Park. Some of these projects have faced delays due to a mix of challenges that include land acquisition. German development agency GIZ adds that inadequate transport infrastructure in areas with high potential for wind power plants has also slowed project implementation.
