The Lake Turkana wind farm in Kenya is expected to be fully operational this month, its developer has announced.
Lake Turkana Wind Power (LTWP) announced in September that the long-delayed wind farm had delivered its first power to the grid and that it was carrying out testing and commissioning protocols.
In a social media post on 25 October, Vestas said that 236 of the wind farm’s V52-850 kW wind turbines were up and running.
Installation of the wind turbines was completed in mid-2017 but financial uncertainty delayed the construction of the 434 km-long transmission line. Kenya’s national transmission system operator Ketraco took over construction of the Loiyangalani-Suswa transmission line – the longest in Africa – completing it in August 2018.
LTWP – a consortium of Danish and African investment funds and turbine supplier Vestas – has signed a power purchase agreement worth $75.20/MWh with national utility Kenya Power & Lighting Company. It says that it hope the project will “inspire other African countries to follow suit and lead the continent towards a greener and more sustainable future”.
