Name of the Project
Lake Turkana wind power project (LTWP).

Location
The project is located on the south-eastern shore of Lake Turkana, in Loiyangalani district, Marsabit County, in northern Kenya.

Client
The LTWP consortium comprising KP&P Africa and Aldwych International as co-developers, the Investment Fund for Developing Countries, Vestas Eastern Africa, the Finnish Fund for Industrial Cooperation, KLP Norfund Investments and Sandpiper.

The transmission line is being constructed by Kenya Electricity Transmission Company (Ketraco).

Project Description
The project entails the construction of a 310 MW wind farm that will feature three hundred and sixty-five 850 kW wind turbine generators, each with a capacity of 850 kW.

The project also includes the upgrade of the existing road of about 204 km from Laisamis to the wind farm site and an access road network in and around the site for construction, operations and maintenance.

Kenyan national grid company Ketraco is constructing a double-circuit 400 kV, 428 km transmission line from the outskirts of Nairobi to Loyangalani, near the project site. This will enable future electrification of nearby rural areas where previously no electricity was available.

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Value
€625-million.

Duration
Not stated.

Latest Developments
Kenya has contracted a consortium of Chinese companies to complete the construction of a major transmission line that will evacuate electricity from the LTWP project, which stalled in 2016, when the previous contractor, Italian company Isolux Ingeneria, went bankrupt.

The consortium, comprising NARI Group Corporation and Power China Guizhou Engineering Company, will be responsible for completing the $150-million Loiyangalani–Suswa power line. The contract was signed with State-owned Ketraco.

The 428 km 400 kV line is about 70% complete and the Chinese companies are required to complete it by August, so that the LTWP project can be connected to the national grid. The wind farm is expected to provide reliable, low-cost energy for Kenyans over a 20-year period, in accordance with the power purchase agreement signed with electricity utility Kenya Power.

Isolux was awarded the contract in 2011 and was supposed to complete the project in 23 months. 

Kenya, which is highly dependent on hydro-electricity, is desperate to tap electricity from Africa’s largest wind farm to arrest rising electricity costs caused by a severe drought that has led to a drastic decline in water levels at hydropower schemes, forcing the country to resort to expensive thermal generation. The cost of electricity has increased by 22% over the past 12 months and could increase further this year.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
Vestas (wind turbines), Mott MacDonald (lenders’ technical adviser) and NARI Group Corporation and Power China Guizhou Engineering Company (Loiyangalani–Suswa powerline).

On Budget and on Time?
Not stated.

Contact Details for Project Information
LTWP news and media contact, tel +254 733 751 799, email info@ltwp.co.ke or email media@ltwp.co.ke.