Wind turbine manufacturer, Vestas, has signed a US$756mn agreement to supply equipment to Lake Turkana Wind Power Limited (LTWP) in northern Kenya

Vestas has signed a US$756mn agreement to supply equipment to LTWP, Kenya.

Netherland’s-based Vestas will supply 365 Vestas V52 turbines – each with a capacity of 850 watts to inject 310 MW to the national grid. The project entails setting up a large wind farm at Lonyangalani near Lake Turkana and the upgrading of the existing 200 km road from Laisamis to the wind farm site.

LTWP’s chairman Carlo Van Wageningen said construction work will begin in April with the first 50 MW going online in the first quarter of 2013 and the rest in 2014. The power will be delivered to Kenya Power through a 428 km overhead transmission line. The Kenya Electricity Transmission Company Ltd with a concession funding from the Spanish government will build a 400 kV transmission line to deliver the LTWP electricity along with other power from future plants to the national grid.

Meanwhile, Norway will spend US$300mn annually to help some of the world’s poorest people get better access to energy by developing a new market-based system to limit emission from global energy production. Under the Energy + Partnership, Norway, UK, France, Denmark, Switzerland and South Korea will give money to Bhutan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Liberia, Maldives, Morocco, Nepal, Senegal and Tanzania. Norway’s Foreign Affairs minister, Terje Kronen, said his country was working with Ethiopia and the Maldives but will meet with officials from Kenya and Liberia this month to discuss the matter.

Mwangi Mumero