On Friday 19 July, 2019, H.E. Hon. Uhuru Kenyatta officially inaugurated the 310 MW Lake Turkana Wind Power project.
The joint ceremony for the inauguration of the wind farm and the commissioning of the 438 km Loiyangalani-Suswa transmission line which connects the wind farm to the national grid was held at the wind farm site in Loiyangalani sub-county, Marsabit County.
Present at the inauguration were high-level representation from both the national government and the county government of Marsabit, members of the diplomatic corps linked to the project, investors, lenders, project contractors, LTWP and KETRACO staff and community members.
During his speech at the launch, the president lauded the wind farm, a first in the region in terms of production capacity and investment saying, “Today, we again raise the bar for the continent as we unveil Africa’s single largest wind farm, the Lake Turkana Wind Power project”
Lake Turkana Wind Power comprises 356 wind turbine generators each with a capacity of 850kW for a total project installed capacity of 310 MW. The project is connected to the national grid by the 438 km Loiyangalani – Suswa transmission interconnector.
LTWP began injecting power into the national grid on 24 September 2018 and has since injected in excess of 1,216,489,509 kWh of clean, low cost, renewable energy into the Kenyan grid.
“The project will increase electricity supply by approximately 13% and will reduce our reliance on thermal generated electricity and insulate Kenya from supply constraints during periods of low water levels. Indeed it should be noted, that without the wind power project, the fuel cost charge (FCC) would have been as high as KES 5.75/kWh in May 2019 as compared to KES 3.75/kWh, the cost that was applied in that particular month. This is a combined saving to Kenyans in the amount of KES 8.5billion in the first 8 months of the wind farm’s injection to the grid,” said H.E. Hon. Uhuru Kenyatta during the launch.
Lake Turkana Wind Power, its investors, partners, shareholders, board of governance and employees wish to express their sincere gratitude to the Government of Kenya through its various entities that work with the project and to H.E. Hon. Uhuru Kenyatta, C.G.H. President of the Republic of Kenya and Commander-in-Chief of the Kenya Defence Forces. The continued support and collaboration has been invaluable.
