Lake Turkana Wind Power receives first turbine shipment

The first shipment of turbines for the 310 megawatt Lake Turkana Wind Power project (LTWP) has arrived at the Port of Mombasa.

The firm's General Manager Phylip Leferink announced that the turbines were the first of 365 that will be transported by road approximately 1,200 km to the wind firm site located at Sarima village, Loiyangalani Division of Marsabit County.

Mr Leferink said the shipment of the 30 turbines lays the ground for the expected injection of first 90 MW of wind power into the national grid by September this year.  "When operating at full capacity, Lake Turkana Wind Power will add 310 megawatts of clean energy into Kenya's grid – enough to power more than two million households," he said.

"Foundations for the first 30 turbines are ready, as soon as the turbines arrive in Sarima, the task at hand is to hoist the turbines," he said. Denmark-based Vestas is the supplier and installer of the turbines.

Mr Leferink noted: "To start with, we will be working against the winds that we intend to harness, but as soon as the turbines are up we are another step closer to producing power."

He expressed optimism that completion of the 207km all weather road from Laisamis to Sarima village will highly reduce delays in transit and was confident that all the offloaded turbines will be ready at site for hoisting by the end of March.

The Marsabit County based wind firm has a 20-year contract to sell electricity at Sh8.6 per kilowatt/hour (kWh). It sits on 40,000 acres of land in an area that receives steady wind flow throughout the year.

The power will be evacuated and transmitted to the national grid via a double circuit 400kV, 428km transmission line that is currently under construction by Kenya Electricity Transmission Company Ltd.

UK-based company Aldwych International is the single largest investor in the Sh70 billion wind project with a 30.7 per cent stake. Google has a 12.5 per cent stake after pumping in Sh4 billion last October.