Kenya’s Sh13b wind power project finally hit the skies in Nyandarua

For a visitor to Magumu and Githabai villages in Kinangop constituency in Nyandarua County, two things stick out like a sore thumb - the high levels of poverty and strong constant cold winds.

Despite the region being one of the country’s food baskets, lack of employment and low earnings from their produce has reduced many of the peasants into ‘sufferers’. However, this could change soon after area residents with the support of their leaders, gave consent to the Sh13 billion Kinangop Wind Park (KWP) project.

With a capacity of 61 megawatts (MW), the project has been dubbed as the largest wind-powered-development in the country and is part of the plan to meet the promised 5,000MW.
The journey has been long and bitter for the locals and investors with area leaders at one time issuing the latter with a 14 day notice to leave the area.
Earlier, leaders in Kinangop and Naivasha where the project will be based, had accused the investor of failing to involve the locals.

A meeting in June this year ended in disarray with locals claiming the wind turbines could affect their health adding that they were taking away huge tracks of land. The issue of compensation was raised and as the storm continued to brew it split leaders from Nyandarua County down the middle. But after months of negotiation and finger pointing, the pending issues have since been ironed out. The investor has committed already Sh270 million towards community projects as part of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

Fresh details emerging from a meeting held in Naivasha a week ago show the investor has agreed to start fresh negotiations with the affected families on case to case basis.
According to the new contract, KWP has agreed to give ten percent of its net proceeds from carbon credits to the community.

Contract had flaws

“KWP has agreed to organise a trip out of the country for a limited number of representatives of the local community,” reads the contract in part. The meeting also agreed that no other investor would be allowed into the area to tap the wind power as it would interfere with the turbines. “Mass relocation is not envisaged in this project as its counter-development and KWP has agreed to compensate for the affected land and structures,” says the agreement in part. Area leaders are full of praise for the project noting that this is the chance they have to transform the area and the lives of many peasant farmers.

Nyandarua Senator Eng Muriuki Karue has assured all farmers who will be affected directly or indirectly by the project that they will be compensated. He says the project is part of the promised 5,000 MW project by the Jubilee government which has the full backing of President Uhuru Kenyatta. “Nyandarua leaders have held several meetings with Energy CS and his team and all your concerns and worries will be addressed,” says Karue.

The sentiments are echoed by Kinangop MP Stephen ‘KK’ Kinyanjui who says affected families in Magumu, Githabai and Naivasha East wards will benefit. Kinyanjui who was previously opposed to the project admits that the previous contract had flaws adding that the investor has agreed to review it. He has dismissed allegations that the wind project could cause diseases as alleged adding that Nema has visited the affected areas and approved the project. “The contract will be done afresh and am asking that you support this project as it will not only benefit the people of Kinangop but the whole country,” he says.

Affected families

Nyandarua Women rep Wanjiru Wa Muhia notes that the concerns raised by the affected farmers were genuine and thus the need for a new contract. She says affected farmers were previously not fully involved in the negotiations adding that under the current terms it will be a win-win situation. “We have sat down with the investor who has agreed to review the previous contracts and works for the project will kick off once the pending issues have been resolved,” she promises.

Eng John Maina from the Ministry of Energy says this will be the largest wind project in the country. He has decried the time lost while addressing issues around the mega-project but is optimistic that it will finally kick off as planned. “The government and investors have heard the farmers’ cries and this will be addressed though the leaders your have chosen,” he says. Already, the government has thrown its weight behind the project which is funded by international and local investors.

According to Energy Cabinet Secretary Davis Chirchir, equipment for the wind project have arrived in the port of Mombasa and are being ferried to the ground. Chirchir says that the wind project is part of the government’s plan to add an extra 5,000 MW to the national grid by 2017. “Works on the 61 MW Kinangop wind project is on course and the equipment to be used have already arrived,” he says.

However, the leader of the majority in Nakuru county assembly Waithuki Njane says he is opposed to the project. The Naivasha East MCA says families affected in his area are yet to be compensated. “The project starts in Kinangop constituency and ends in Naivasha but the affected families in my area have not been compensated and that’s why we are opposed to it,” he says.

He says an environmental impact study was yet to be carried out in the area to determine the effects of the wind project. However, the power company through its CEO James Wakaba has denied the allegations saying that several meetings have been held before the project started.

He says that the project will use $150 million adding that all the affected families have already been consulted and negotiations on compensation are on high gear. “We have heard the cries and concern of this people and we are ready to go back to the drawing board and address the issues raised,” he says.