http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jul/27/kenya-wind-farm

Some 365 giant wind turbines are to be installed in desert around Lake Turkana in northern Kenya – used as a backdrop for the film The Constant Gardener – creating the biggest windfarm on the continent. When complete in 2012, the £533m project will have a capacity of 300MW, a quarter of Kenya's current installed power and one of the highest proportions of wind energy to be fed in a national grid anywhere in the world.

"We believe that this site is one of the best in the world for wind," he said. If the project succeeds, the company estimates that there is the potential for the farm to generate a further 2,700MW of power, some of which could be exported.

First, however, there are huge logistical obstacles to overcome. The remote site of Loiyangalani is nearly 300 miles north of Nairobi. Transporting the turbines will require several thousand truck journeys, as well as the improvement of bridges and roads along the way. Security is also an issue as the region is known bandit country, and many locals are armed with AK-47 assault rifles.

Way to go.Renewable,sustainable and clean energy.

This project if implemented will be the cheapest and safest way to generate power than any other proposal I have heared so far.

Wind is terrible in Turkana country.......good to see step is being taken to utilise it. :cheers:

Denmark's Vestas to sign deal with Kenyan wind firm

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Lake Turkana Wind Power (LTWP), a firm planning to build a 300 MW windfarm in Kenya, said on Tuesday it had signed an exclusivity deal with Denmark's Vestas and would be signing a final agreement in October.

LTWP intends to erect at least 353 wind turbines, each with a capacity of 850 KW, which will be procured from the world's biggest maker of wind turbines, Vestas Wind Systems A/S.

"We have signed an exclusivity agreement with Vestas," LTWP's Chairman Carlo Van Wageningen told Reuters.

"We are now in the process of signing the actual EPC (engineering, construction and procurement) contract ... determining the proper value, all the details of the supply, along with (an) operations and management contract."

He said the company hopes to complete the deal before the end of October but declined to give more details until then.

LTWP plans to use Vestas V52 turbines and expects initial production to start in June 2011 and to have full production of 300 MW a year later.

It has already advertised for construction tenders to put up a 428 km (266 mile) power line and four substations to link the wind farm in a remote corner of Kenya to the national grid.

The total project cost is estimated at about $760 million, LTWP director Chris Staubo told Reuters in January. The African Development Bank had shown willingness to finance 30 percent of that, he had said.

Once completed, the project could meet about a quarter of Kenya's current energy demand.

Most of Kenya's power is generated by hydro-electric plants. But water levels have fallen due to consecutive seasons of insufficient rain and forced the east African nation into outages.

The country hopes to add 2,000 MW of environmentally-friendly energy sources by 2013.

The LTWP farm will be situated in the windy Loiyangalani area in north western Kenya where The Constant Gardner, a 2005 film based on John le Carre's novel of the same title, was partly shot.

http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-GreenBusiness/idUSTRE58L3JN20090922

^^salam vegm, thanks for the contribution:cheers:

You're welcome :)

http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/Company%20Industry/-/539550/853226/-/t41eygz/-/index.html

I love this project, thank God its being realised.
IMAGINE AFRICAS LARGEST WINDPOWER FARM!!

http://www.popsci.com/files/imagecache/article_image_large/articles/GreenMountainWindFarm_Fluvanna_2004.jpg

Are there any other electricity production projects under construction or on the planning table for the coming years in Kenya?

I am not very happy with wind power in Kenya....wind is rather expensive...the will be selling us the power @ sh. 10 for the next 20 years. in the coal powered economies..power gets to the consumer @ equivalent of sh. 3 to 5. geothermal is the best and most reliable alternative for Kenya. Also, coal should be exploited in Machakos for powers...Lets forget this green talk...that is for Industrialized countries which also started dirty..

i think the wind power project is timely. remember the ethiopians are in the process of building a major dam on river omo which drains into l. turkana, and are planning to sell some of the power from that dam to kenya. if we can get the 300 mw from wind in turkana, it would save us the money we would pay the ethiopians for the same.

i think the wind power project is timely. remember the ethiopians are in the process of building a major dam on river omo which drains into l. turkana, and are planning to sell some of the power from that dam to kenya. if we can get the 300 mw from wind in turkana, it would save us the money we would pay the ethiopians for the same.


It does not save us anything....the Wind station is owned by Foreigners from Holland...The advantage with Ethiopian Power is that it is cheaper and more reliable.

It does not save us anything....the Wind station is owned by Foreigners from Holland...The advantage with Ethiopian Power is that it is cheaper and more reliable.

i think you are being a bit too negative, unilever kenya is foreign too so is it not good for kenya? although i understand where you coming from with the foreign owned arugument but i really dont think it is a big deal(fyi, i believe in a free market i dont give a crap about the nationalism arguement)

bottom line is that despite all the negatives of wind power in kenya fact is it is another power option that kenya will have that most other african countries dont have. i cant believe that is something you dont want for kenya.

Are there any other electricity production projects under construction or on the planning table for the coming years in Kenya?

There are a number of projects, mainly geothermal, thermal, wind and and coal power. Im not sure about hydro stations given Kenya's recent weather patterns.

I am not very happy with wind power in Kenya....wind is rather expensive...the will be selling us the power @ sh. 10 for the next 20 years. in the coal powered economies..power gets to the consumer @ equivalent of sh. 3 to 5. geothermal is the best and most reliable alternative for Kenya. Also, coal should be exploited in Machakos for powers...Lets forget this green talk...that is for Industrialized countries which also started dirty..

I support you on this one. Kenya has the potential to produce 10,000 Mw from geothermal sources. Though we need cheap power to keep costs down especially in the industrial sector.

There was a proposal for opting for nuclear power in kenya, how far has it gone?

There are a number of projects, mainly geothermal, thermal, wind and and coal power. Im not sure about hydro stations given Kenya's recent weather patterns.

that is true but it takes a minimum of 7 yrs even with ready financing to put up a fully function geothermal power station. its not as easy as it sounds

I think the government should concetrate on cheapear and environment friendly alternatives that Kenya has on her disposal.Wind and Geothermal.I believe Geo-thermal is cheaper to implement,no?


Geothermal power: Kenya's potential and prospects

fTQEyVqaDGU

Geothermal power to provide 2200mw by 2020

f-_94KFo5ag

that is true but it takes a minimum of 7 yrs even with ready financing to put up a fully function geothermal power station. its not as easy as it sounds


However, the good thing about geothermal energy is that it's a renewable and reliable source, and we have more than enough to meet our demand.

i think wind power is too way expensive. 700 mill dollar to produce only 300 MW is unwise.here in Demark we get 25% of our power from wind and we pay 2-3 times more per kwh electricity compare to other countries.
in my opinion the best solution is to use ethiopias dam ,it is more consumer and national economy friendly.it is CHEAP 5 cents per kwh.
the dam ethiopia is building costs around 1.8 billion dollar power production will be around 2000MW.to produce the same amount of energy through wind you need around 3.2 billion.

http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/image/view/-/875600/highRes/142115/-/maxw/600/-/5e11ff/-/wind-power.jpg Wind farm: Giston Energy plans to generate 850 KW of power from the Kenya plant. Photo/REUTERS
A new company has received government approval to set up a wind farm, a project seen as a major boost to Kenya’s search for less costly and renewable energy to meet the growing demand of electricity from domestic and industrial use.

Giston Energy is already testing the strength of wind around the area it plans to set up the farm.

Lake Turkana Wind Power Ltd is the other company planning a 300 megawatts (MW) generation by end of 2012.

“We have successfully obtained a formal approval to develop 300MW wind farm from Government of Kenya through Ministry of Energy,” said Cyrus Thairu, Giston Energy’s communications director.

Giston Energy is owned by a group of local and mostly United States-based Kenyans.

It plans to invest in wind and solar power in Northern Kenya. It solar output will be 50MW.

The company officials said they will now start negotiations with Kenya Power and Lighting (KPLC) on Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) that will set the price at which it will sell electricity to the power distributor.

“We have submitted our PPA proposal to KPLC leadership and we’re waiting for their response.”

The company said it has also secured a commitment for transmission funding up to $200 million, but did not mention the source of that funding.

Lack of transmission lines in areas targeted by solar and wind electricity investors has been a major cost concern.

Last month, Lake Turkana Wind Power secured a Sh11.4 billion funding from Spanish government to finance construction of the transmission line.

Lake Turkana Wind Power has also received undisclosed amount of carbon emission reduction funding from African Carbon Asset Development facility that has been set up as collaboration between Unep, Standard Bank and the German government’s International Climate Initiative.

The company envisages constructing a wind farm consisting of 353 wind turbines, each with a capacity of 850 kilowatts (kw).

The total power generated in the initial phase of the project expected to reach 300Mw by July 2012.

Lake Turkana Wind Power already has an agreement with Danish firm—Vestas Wind to supply 360 wind turbines for use in the project estimated at about Sh55 billion.


Giston Energy on the other hand said its wind turbine supplier – whom it did not name—has confirmed the willingness to start shipping the turbines in early 2011.“Our wind turbine supplier will construct the wind park on turn-key.

This will eliminate delays and enhance quality since these teams have a proven track record,” said Mr Thairu.

A turn-key or a turn-key project is a type of project that is constructed by a developer and sold or turned over to a buyer in a ready-to-use condition.

The company said it expects to sign a carbon credits financing deal with a major international bank soon.

Funding for the wind farm is planned to come from export credit agencies.

The growing interest of investments in renewable energy is attributed to the introduction of an electricity feed-in tariff policy in Kenya, according to Unep executive director Achim Steiner.

Unep said the policy encourages use of geothermal, wind and biomass as renewable power generation sources.

The electricity is later sold to form part of the national grid.

Under the initiative, power generators from mini-hydro projects receive up to 12 US cents per kilowatt hour produced, nine US cents for biomass and nine US cents for wind power.

“Policy mechanisms designed to encourage adoption of renewable energy sources triggered interest in establishing Africa’s largest wind farm in Turkana.”



http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/Company%20Industry/Giston%20Energy%20gets%20nod%20to%20set%20up%20wind%20farm%20in%20northern%20Kenya%20/-/539550/875598/-/item/0/-/5f8i5y/-/index.html

(http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/Company%20Industry/Giston%20Energy%20gets%20nod%20to%20set%20up%20wind%20farm%20in%20northern%20Kenya%20/-/539550/875598/-/item/0/-/5f8i5y/-/index.html)

^^the way to go:cheers:

NOW WE ARE TALKING. this will really help kenya

NOW WE ARE TALKING. this will really help kenya

^^about energy the future is bright, however we need the government to encourage PPP in every sector, by enticing the investors to achieve meaningful growth:)

The government has approved plans by Gitson Energy Ltd to build 300 megawatts wind power plant at Bubisa in Marsabit.

The firm owned by Kenyans in Diaspora, is required by Ministry of Energy to complete detailed feasibility studies including the electricity transmission line and interconnection facilities.

According to Energy Permanent Secretary Patrick Nyoike Gitson is now required to complete detailed feasibility studies within eight months.

A similar plant is planned for Turkana by privately owned Turkana Windpower. The resultant 600MW from the two plants are expected to hugely cut power cost in the country.

Kenya relies heavily on fuel guzzling plants as hydro production heads south.

State-owned

“We have no control of the ownership of the proposed project site. It is therefore up to you to secure land rights for the wind farm,” he said in a letter dated February 16.

The letter copied to the Energy Regulatory Commission and the Kenya Power and Lighting Company requested the two state-owned firms to assist the investor where necessary.

Gitson’s communications director Cyrus Thairu said the firm will engage both parastatals on the project.

“We will start negotiating with KPLC the power purchase agreement to set price of selling electricity to the distributor and seek a power production licence from ERC,” he said.

Gitson has submitted a power purchase agreement proposal to KPLC and is waiting for response. The firm has also secured a commitment of about Sh15 billion for building a power transmission line.

Transferring of electricity from Bubisa to KPLC customers will pose a challenge as the locality lacks a transmission line. If the proposed Kenya-Ethiopia transmission line is not completed in time, Gitson will spend more money to be linked to the national grid.

Green energy projects have become a major attraction for private equity.


http://www.nation.co.ke/business/news/State%20approves%20new%20mega%20wind%20plant%20%20/-/1006/878138/-/a7iloe/-/index.html

The government has approved plans by Gitson Energy Ltd to build 300 megawatts wind power plant at Bubisa in Marsabit.

The firm owned by Kenyans in Diaspora, is required by Ministry of Energy to complete detailed feasibility studies including the electricity transmission line and interconnection facilities.

According to Energy Permanent Secretary Patrick Nyoike Gitson is now required to complete detailed feasibility studies within eight months.

A similar plant is planned for Turkana by privately owned Turkana Windpower. The resultant 600MW from the two plants are expected to hugely cut power cost in the country.

Kenya relies heavily on fuel guzzling plants as hydro production heads south.

State-owned

“We have no control of the ownership of the proposed project site. It is therefore up to you to secure land rights for the wind farm,” he said in a letter dated February 16.

The letter copied to the Energy Regulatory Commission and the Kenya Power and Lighting Company requested the two state-owned firms to assist the investor where necessary.

Gitson’s communications director Cyrus Thairu said the firm will engage both parastatals on the project.

“We will start negotiating with KPLC the power purchase agreement to set price of selling electricity to the distributor and seek a power production licence from ERC,” he said.

Gitson has submitted a power purchase agreement proposal to KPLC and is waiting for response. The firm has also secured a commitment of about Sh15 billion for building a power transmission line.

Transferring of electricity from Bubisa to KPLC customers will pose a challenge as the locality lacks a transmission line. If the proposed Kenya-Ethiopia transmission line is not completed in time, Gitson will spend more money to be linked to the national grid.

Green energy projects have become a major attraction for private equity.


http://www.nation.co.ke/business/news/State%20approves%20new%20mega%20wind%20plant%20%20/-/1006/878138/-/a7iloe/-/index.html

with 300MW(Turkana) + 300MW(Marsabit) = Kenya should be on its way to the league of sustainable electrical producer when the investments are finally realised.^^

with 300MW(Turkana) + 300MW(Marsabit) = Kenya should be on its way to the league of sustainable electrical producer when the investments are finally realised.^^

^^yep, the projects are scalable to up to 1000MW each in the long run, that is what they are planning i heard:cheers:

Thats to little energy too late to power Kenya to higher economical an industrial levels. Kenya needs no less than 5000MW to sustain its developments and at an affordable rate. Motor fuel is 3 to 4 times higher in Kenya than in Europe......now that explains why Industrialization is is so elusive for Kenya. Kenya needs to Invest Heavily in Energy.......n when I say this I don't only mean the existing forms, no not particularly, Its time to get new forms or ways of tapping Energy a way that will work for the Kenyans and the world in part..
The economical crisis is nothing compared to the looming Energy crisis in the World!!

^^ I agree.I wonder why the govt has waited this long.Geothermal sources in the Rift valley have a pontential of 3000mw.Investing in that alone will make a big dent in energy woes for years to come.

Very true Gio n mwanamwiwa......with upcoming projects we need a very cheap, consistent and sustainable energy source......one that will save us n the world from the eminent energy crisis....

Kenya's Geothermal Development Company (GDC) is drilling for steam which will be used to generate an additional 280 MW to the national grid, the east African nation's energy minister said on Monday.
Kiraitu Murungi said the power will be supplied by KenGen the country's main power generator, as part of the government's aim of raising the share of geothermal's contribution to electricity from 167 MW.
"Within a few months of its inception, GDC has begun drilling in Olkaria Domes, to supply steam to KenGen for the generation of an additional 280 MW," he told a regional meeting to discuss geothermal, referring to a site in the Rift Valley.
Patrick Nyoike, the ministry's top official, said the power would be available to the grid in the next two to three years.
Murungi said the geothermal firm was also working on other sites in Kenya's vast Rift Valley region where potential for geothermal is estimated at more than 7,000 MW.
Although geothermal requires huge initial investments, it is considered as a cheaper option to hydropower over the long run and it is also not affected by drought.
Kenya is just emerging from a prolonged drought which reduced electricity generation from dams causing rationing driving up costs as the country switched to expensive thermal power.
The geothermal push is being funded by the government and an array of international organisations.
-Reuters


http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/business/InsidePage.php?id=2000005713&cid=14&story=Kenya%20geothermal%20firm%20on%20course%20to%20supply%20280%20MW

great projects

again and again good news from this wonderful country !

Thats to little energy too late to power Kenya to higher economical an industrial levels. Kenya needs no less than 5000MW to sustain its developments and at an affordable rate. Motor fuel is 3 to 4 times higher in Kenya than in Europe......now that explains why Industrialization is is so elusive for Kenya. Kenya needs to Invest Heavily in Energy.......n when I say this I don't only mean the existing forms, no not particularly, Its time to get new forms or ways of tapping Energy a way that will work for the Kenyans and the world in part..
The economical crisis is nothing compared to the looming Energy crisis in the World!!

too little? so is kenya at this point better off without those investments? i prefer geothermal but i do not believe that we should banish those wind power investments just because it is too little.

u say its too late? i say better late than never.

i do not know why you guys are not enthused by these wind projects. if somehow kenya will add 600MW to the national grid from wind power then i do not see any major downside to that. after all wind will never run out so that source of energy will ALWAYS be available ready to be harnessed

bottom line for me is, if there is a form commercial viable source of energy available in kenya, I WANT IT EXLPOITED!!!!

What is Kenya's current electricity output in MW?

too little? so is kenya at this point better off without those investments? i prefer geothermal but i do not believe that we should banish those wind power investments just because it is too little.

u say its too late? i say better late than never.

i do not know why you guys are not enthused by these wind projects. if somehow kenya will add 600MW to the national grid from wind power then i do not see any major downside to that. after all wind will never run out so that source of energy will ALWAYS be available ready to be harnessed

bottom line for me is, if there is a form commercial viable source of energy available in kenya, I WANT IT EXLPOITED!!!!

:ohno::ohno::ohno:
Nairoberry you don't seem to get my point here...........

I love Kenya just as you do, but what i don't want is putting up little projects at very high prices jst coz they add up to something.
what Kenya needs, instead, is a viable solution, and so does the world!
and bottom line is spending 80 billion on 600MW of wind-power instead of putting up a nuclear reactor that generates 3000MW for the same amount is a waste of money, in short it fall under the category of "embezzlement" of public funds.
:cheers::bash::bash::bash:

:ohno::ohno::ohno:
Nairoberry you don't seem to get my point here...........

I love Kenya just as you do, but what i don't want is putting up little projects at very high prices jst coz they add up to something.
what Kenya needs, instead, is a viable solution, and so does the world!
and bottom line is spending 80 billion on 600MW of wind-power instead of putting up a nuclear reactor that generates 3000MW for the same amount is a waste of money, in short it fall under the category of "embezzlement" of public funds.
:cheers::bash::bash::bash:

first of all do not get me wrong, i am not mad or frustrated with you but i am just puzzled.

nuclear energy sounds great but go and find an investor that is willing to invest in nuclear energy in a third world country. I will be here waiting for you to find that investor

second, 80 billion shillings is not kenyan tax payers money, it is a private venture and a private investor can invest however much money he wants to invest in whatever venture he likes.

third, I DO NOT WANT THIS(CURRENT) GOVERNMENT TO ACQUIRE NEUCLEAR ENERGY!!!!! later on with a more efficient and politically mature government, they can venture into neuclear energy but i do not want this government to have nuclear energy in their hands. I JUST DONT WANT THAT!!!!

I WANT kenya to have nuclear power BUT!!! not with this current government. it will be a disaster waiting to happen. i prefer nuclear energy to wait untill there are strong institutions that can operate independently i.e without pressure from the executive.

i am curious, how many of us kenyan forumers want this current government and government institutions to have nuclear energy in their hands?????

definitely not me

No no no......the 80 billion will in the long run come from taxpayers pockets whether we want it or not............the company is operating under the BOT and so are all other major infrastructural projects....Main point is whether Kenya wants it or not it has to mature........ mediocrities are what are slowing down growth.......nuclear plants are governed by an international nuclear board so there's no need for panic......kenya will do just fine..... most importantly is for it to take the first baby steps to the future.....


" Before you can walk you have to crawl!"

^^^^^^^^No no no......the 80 billion will in the long run come from taxpayers pockets whether we want it or not............the company is operating under the BOT and so are all other major infrastructural projects....Main point is whether Kenya wants it or not it has to mature........ mediocrities are what are slowing down growth.......nuclear plants are governed by an international nuclear board so there's no need for panic......kenya will do just fine..... most importantly is for it to take the first baby steps to the future.....


" Before you can walk you have to crawl!":cheers:

No no no......the 80 billion will in the long run come from taxpayers pockets whether we want it or not............the company is operating under the BOT and so are all other major infrastructural projects....Main point is whether Kenya wants it or not it has to mature........ mediocrities are what are slowing down growth.......nuclear plants are governed by an international nuclear board so there's no need for panic......kenya will do just fine..... most importantly is for it to take the first baby steps to the future.....


" Before you can walk you have to crawl!"

as i said find anyone that wants to put a nuclear power plant in a third world country, with a such a volatile political climate like kenya.

by the way i like your solutions but i differ with you in the sense that, as of right now nuclear energy is only viable in theory but not in practicality(is that how it is spelled?) and deep down you know that.

Two threads on the same subject, merged into one.

as i said find anyone that wants to put a nuclear power plant in a third world country, with a such a volatile political climate like kenya.

by the way i like your solutions but i differ with you in the sense that, as of right now nuclear energy is only viable in theory but not in practicality(is that how it is spelled?) and deep down you know that.

Kalonzo I quote " sustainable developments will bring the future to us! not the other way round! we must belong to this future as much as we live in the present!!"^^^^^^:)

Kalonzo I quote " sustainable developments will bring the future to us! not the other way round! we must belong to this future as much as we live in the present!!"^^^^^^:)

thats nice and lofty but not practical as of right now. dont pay attention to kalonzo (trust me!)

thats nice and lofty but not practical as of right now. dont pay attention to kalonzo (trust me!)

:lol::lol::lol:

thats nice and lofty but not practical as of right now. dont pay attention to kalonzo (trust me!)

Its neither nice nor lofty, it is the shameless,tough studded fact, or, should I put it as my professor does, 'the bare truth' and is more practical than most of the projects rendered earlier. the only problem is it seems to be from the 'future' which is quite contrary. I don't want to engage into one of those sideshows and myopic argumentative intrigues with you nairoberry all I'm doing is stating my case. providing a viable n better poised solution to the malignant energy problem.:bowtie::bowtie:
I don't pay attention to kalonzo. no not at all. However, I do contemplate the would-be impacts of those scarce wise words scattered here n there in his speeches :speech:were they put into action!!!:yes::yes::yes:

I don't want to engage into one of those sideshows and myopic argumentative intrigues with you nairoberry

whoa! cool it down there champ.

first of all, this is a public forum where civil discourse is encouraged so do not expect everybody to agree with you. we agree, disagree, support each other but all in a civil manner(exept a few times, whats up butembo? lol! )

secondly, some of us have worked too hard to have a kenyan forum and i dont want to soil it with petty arguements. i have been around here much longer than you have been so check my record before you assume that i want a petty fight with you.

Five years ago, Lake Turkana was just an extremely windy patch of land — soon it will be the biggest wind farm on the Africa continent
Africa Business Review (http://www.africanbusinessreview.co.za/company-reports/winds-change)
8 April 2010
Lake Turkana, in the Great Rift Valley of Kenya, is the world’s largest permanent desert lake and the world’s largest alkaline lake. Surrounded by volcanic rocks, and home to Nile crocodiles, scorpions and carpet vipers, even today the lake retains much of its wild character. It’s hard to look upon Lake Turkana and not become inspired, and it appears as a prominent location in the film The Constant Gardner, and George Adamson’s book, A Lifetime with Lions. Perhaps one quality about Lake Turkana would not immediately spark you to creativity — it’s wind.

One of the founding fathers, Willem Dolleman, had the original idea. Whilst camping in the early eighties on the shores of Lake Turkana, Dolleman had the idea while having trouble putting his tent up in the wind. This is where the idea was born but low oil prices meant the interest was not really there.

Then in 2005, oil prices were high and people started taking interest in finding wind power opportunities in Africa. Since then, things have only got brighter for the wind power industry. In the last five years the number of new installations has grown by an average of 27.6 percent each year. By 2013 the expected average annual growth rate is expected to be 15.7 percent. By that time it is expected that more than 200 GW of new wind power capacity could be on line.

Seeing the potential in this new and exciting market, Dolleman, together with cofounders Harry Wassenaar and Kasper Paardekooper from the Netherlands and Carlo van Wageningen and Chris Staubo from Kenya, Lake Turkana Wind Power was formed to get this project off the ground. In the following years John Mwangi, Ed Schieke and Henk Hutting joined the team as partners, each bringing in their own expertise and experience.

Today the site looks to become a historic, record breaking achievement, but when the project started out, many thought they were almost literally tilting at windmills.

“In the beginning we were seen as a bit like a bunch of loonies,” Staubo admits. This never weakened their resolve. “We knew it was a good site for wind,” explains Chris Staubo, one of the directors of the wind power consortium, “but it was only 2005 when oil started soaring in price that we decided to do a small feasibility study to see if we could make the site competitive.

“There are no subsidies in this part of the world for wind energy, so we knew that if we went ahead with this project our power tariff would need net value. It had to work on that alone. A project like that would be impossible to do in Europe.

“However, we knew we could be competitive here because we knew the winds in the Turkana area were special. Once we’d performed a small feasibility study, we decided it was worth our while to go the long haul and do a major feasibility study.”

And so Lake Turkana Wind Power came into being. Initially, the consortium consisted of two companies. First, there was Anset Africa Ltd., a project development and management company that had been involved in projects as varied as waste management, bio gas, road construction, telecommunications and humanitarian assistance. It was this company that Chris Staubo originated from. Collaborating with Anset Africa Ltd. was KP & P, a company with a history of developing and operating wind power projects. KP & P brought valuable experience to the project, as its founding par tners, Harry Wassenaar and Kasper Paardekooper had been active in the wind power sector since the nineties.

Together, the firms acquired exclusive rights from the Kenyan government, erected the first wind mast and started taking measurements. Within three months it was evident they were onto something pretty special.

TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE?
It doesn’t take an expert to see why. Marsabit County Council have granted Lake Turkana Wind Power a 99 year Lease Agreement on 150,000 acres of the area. This parcel of land is perfectly positioned to take full advantage of the Turkana low level jet stream that is complemented by the unique topographical features on the site.

Unique to the site are Mount Kulal to the North and Mount Nyiru to the South. These two mountains act to produce a venturi effect further accelerating the winds across the proposed location where the multiple wind turbines are to be located.

“For the average wind speed on a European wind farm you are looking at about 6.5 meters per second,” Staubo explains. “On our site the first location we tried was giving off readings of 13 meters per second, which is a little too extreme. We would have never found a manufacturer that was willing to deliver turbines on a site with such wind speeds. So we did some more work and found some better locations in the area, eventually finding the ideal wind farm site with readings that are a bit more humane at 10.8 meters per second. According to our experts this is probably one of the best averages achievable
around the world.”

These were obviously astounding readings, to the point where many people thought they were literally too good to be true.

“We started going around all the various technical experts. When you’re telling experts in the field that you have a 55 percent load factor, and the best they’ve ever heard of is 45, what they’re going to say is that there are problems with your readings,” Staubo says. “So to maximise our credibility we did further tests using a very specialized piece of equipment called a LIDAR. It was designed for space technology by Lockheed Martin. A LIDAR is a laser system which fires a laser beam and every three metres along that beam it picks up the particles of dust in the air and measures the speed of the particle hitting the beam. It does that at a 360 degree angle, and measures it horizontally and vertically, so it’s the equivalent of 40,000 imaginary wind masts. Obviously this gives us an extremely detailed reading, not only confirming our earlier readings, but also greatly improving on our micro-siting.”

Micro-siting is a key issue for Lake Turkana Wind Power, who is aiming to milk every gust of wind for all the energy it can.

“We’re putting up a 365 turbine wind farm, covering an area of 25,000 acres. However, you can improve your output by being able to pinpoint where you’re going to place the turbines. Just by moving a windmill by 50 or 100 metres you can achieve a one or two percent improved yield on that turbine, which on this scale represents a lot of money,” Staubo says.

Lake Turkana Wind Power used the LIDAR for three months, improving on the accuracy of previous readings and allowing it to optimize its micro-siting. Once the initial feasibility studies had been performed, the next step was to actually acquire the land, and find a partner to build the turbines.

This was to prove difficult, as Kenya was not a country that had exploited its wind resources in the past. Lake Turkana Wind Power’s proposals were unorthodox to say the least, and the consortium knew it would have to put down some incredibly solid foundations if it was to hope to have any credibility.

“We were given a lot of support by the government, but in the beginning of course we were seen as bit of a bunch of loonies,” Staubo admits. “We were proposing a project to generate 300 megawatts of wind power in a part of the world where wind has never really been exploited. So you can imagine the kind of work we had to do to make ourselves credible. For that reason we brought on board two experts who then also became partners.”

A WINNING TEAM
One of these partners was Henk Hutting. Hutting had been in the wind energy sector since 1982, and was involved in developing the very first wind park in the Netherlands. In 1987 he was instrumental in creating the first Wind Consultancy Team, KEMA. He was also a consultant for numerous wind energy projects around the world and was a wind energy researcher for 10 years. In 2003 he moved to a wind farm development company, WinWind, as CEO. Here he developed the largest wind farm in the Netherlands, then founded a wind energy development company in the UK called Breeze. Clearly his experience was a huge asset to the Lake Turkana team. Still, even with Hutting’s abilities on side, the consortium faced an up-hill struggle.

“We had considerable difficulty in those days convincing a turbine manufacturer to take on the project,” Staubo recalls. “Africa was not known to the wind turbine manufacturers as an area or market for them. For most of them, their books were completely full for the next four years because the Wind Energy market was picking up rapidly in the more developed world, so they weren’t as interested in paying attention to an emerging market for their products.”

After much searching, however, Lake Turkana Wind Power was able to find a turbine manufacturer who shared its vision, in the form of Vestas Wind Systems. Vestas was established in 1979 and has become a global market leader in wind technology. It was perfectly suited to Lake Turkana Wind Power’s needs. A key part of the project, from the very beginning, has been the ability to find the right people, with the right skills.

“It is a very specialized field,” Staubo says. “In a way I‘d say it’s an almost incestuous world — there aren’t many players, and although it’s a growing community there are many well established companies who have been working on wind power since the 1980s when it first became a recognized source of energy. So it was not difficult for us to identify these parties.”

WEIGHING THE CONSEQUENCES
Another issue the Lake Turkana Wind Power consor tium had to address was what the consequences would be of such a huge project on a previously almost untouched part of Kenya. On top of that, the area is home to several indigenous nomadic populations who could be affected by the project.

For this reason Lake Turkana Wind Power commissioned an Environmental Impact Assessment. Kenya’s environmental authority, the National Environmental Monitoring Authority (NEMA), will approve the Environmental Impact Assessment as a prerequisite to project implementation.

The Environmental Impact Assessment is based on Kenya’s latest environmental guidelines and the most recent World Bank safeguard policies and guidelines plus appropriate Danish and Dutch guidelines. The project is forecast to reduce carbon emissions by 16 million tons, thus gaining valuable carbon credits.

A LONG AND WINDING ROAD
Having found the perfect site, and the best people to work it, and going to all the trouble of weighing up the consequences of the project, would all be useless however, if the consortium was not also able to actually bring the necessary materials to the site.

“We had to prove that we could bring this very heavy and bulky equipment from the port to the site, over 1,000 km of African roads,” Staubo says. “This was obviously a huge challenge — if you’ve ever been on African roads you’ll know what I’m saying.”

Lake Turkana carried out a very detailed road survey to confirm it was feasible and possible to bring this equipment to site.

“The road surveys obviously identified a lot of problems,” Staubo recalls. “We found a lot of places that needed improvements, so we had to include in our capital costs the cost of improving and strengthening approximately 170 km of road network. We have decided to take on this project ourselves as investors, because if we left it to government we would not have control over the timing and deadlines involved.

“ It’s high risk for us but we’re firm believers in what we’re doing.”

This is an attitude that has brought Lake Turkana a long way, from the days when it was just a wide expanse of extremely windy land, with barely any rainfall, sparse vegetation and barren rocky volcanic soil, to what will soon be the largest wind farm on the continent, generating up to a quarter of Kenya’s electricity.

The wind farm is expected to start producing power in June 2011, with the project reaching full production capacity by July 2012. As renewable energy becomes more and more essential to the energy sector, this is the sort of project that will serve as an example to many others. When the Lake Turkana Wind Power project finally comes online, we sure that people will be blown away by its success.

Official Website: http://laketurkanawindpower.com/

Whilst camping in the early eighties on the shores of Lake Turkana, Dolleman had the idea while having trouble putting his tent up in the wind.

What a great example of creative thinking.

While wind power is expensive, it still cheaper than the thermal (diesel oil!) based emergency power currently used to complement the lack of other electric power sources in kenya!

So this project makes both economical and ecological sense - way to go :)

No no no......the 80 billion will in the long run come from taxpayers pockets whether we want it or not............the company is operating under the BOT and so are all other major infrastructural projects....Main point is whether Kenya wants it or not it has to mature........ mediocrities are what are slowing down growth.......nuclear plants are governed by an international nuclear board so there's no need for panic......kenya will do just fine..... most importantly is for it to take the first baby steps to the future.....


" Before you can walk you have to crawl!"
This nuclear body you have just talked about here, what country, out of Europe and the Americas of course, have you heard that they allowed to have nuclear plants? Very few is the answer. Kenya is a country they don't even easily give aid to, what makes you think they'll allow us to have nuclear plants? Just common sense. I don't know why some of us keep naming these international bodies like Africa holds any stake in any of them. The members of these bodies do not have AFRICA AS A PRIORITY and never will.

Wind power is expensive that isn't in dispute here, however after about 20 years, the cost is usually paid for and the it becomes virtually free! Another option is instead of having huge expensive windmills, there are now smaller cheaper ones that can be used by one household. They're smaller, cheaper and basically pay for themselves after ten years! What's more, the technology is constantly being improved and thereby cost going down. Another option is to just use candles and kerosene lamps; your choice.

Wind power is expensive that isn't in dispute here, however after about 20 years, the cost is usually paid for and the it becomes virtually free!

Good point. I see this as a long term investment. Besides, its better than paying for thermal generators whenever we have a shortfall in hydro power production.

Photos

http://darubini.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/wind-turbines.jpg?w=595&h=300

http://www.nation.co.ke/image/view/-/1006256/medRes/192412/-/h/400/w/600/-/vtb08d/-/mill.jpg

http://www.nation.co.ke/image/view/-/1006240/medRes/192414/-/h/400/w/600/-/9tqctc/-/DNWINDFARM0809n.jpg

http://www.nation.co.ke/image/view/-/1006244/medRes/192415/-/h/400/w/600/-/9jqatd/-/DNWINDFARM0809x.jpg

http://cleantechnica.com/files/2009/07/ngong-wind-farm-001.jpg

http://www.minnpost.com/client_files/alternate_images/9260/mp_main_wide_WindTurbinesNgongHills452.jpg

http://greenkenya.complitcommunications.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/kengen-wind-power-station-ngong-hills-kenya.jpeg

Reuters reports LTWP LTWP is proceeding with small delay (http://af.reuters.com/article/investingNews/idAFJOE6890A820100910).

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Investors behind Kenya's biggest wind power project said on Friday its financing was likely to be completed early next year after the government resolved issues around guaranteeing the private venture.

The 560 million euro, 300 megawatt Lake Turkana Wind Power (LTWP) project had been scheduled to inject an initial 50 MW into the national grid by June 2011 and be at full capacity a year later.

But it has been delayed for months bu a tussle in the government over the legality of underwriting LTWP's loans, because the independent power producer is a private entity.

"We have had some delay. We and the lenders were waiting for final directions on government guarantees," LTWP Chairman Carlo Van Wageningen told Reuters.

Those guarantee issues, he said, had now been resolved.

"Definitely we can look at financial closure in early 2011," he said.

LTWP now expects the first 50 MW to be onstream by the end of 2012 and the remainder in the first six months of 2013.

Under a power purchase agreement signed at the end of January, the government committed to provide certain guarantees to lenders, which include the Africa Development Bank.

"The lenders would not proceed further with our request until they were satisfied they would have the right guarantees required," Van Wageningen said.

"We are happy this matter has been resolved," he added.

Kenya's energy and finance ministries worked round the hurdle by setting up an escrow account for the guarantees.

"We've lost time but we are hoping to recover. Some work has been carried out in the meantime," he said.

Denmark's Vestas Wind Systems will provide the 350 wind turbines needed for the project.

LTWP signed the power purchase deal with Kenya Power and Lighting at a fixed rate of 7.22 euro cents per kilowatt hour for 20 years.

LTWP, a subsidiary of KP&P, a firm from the Netherlands that carries out wind projects, will be meeting the lenders group later this month to set up new time scales.

This nuclear body you have just talked about here, what country, out of Europe and the Americas of course, have you heard that they allowed to have nuclear plants? Very few is the answer. Kenya is a country they don't even easily give aid to, what makes you think they'll allow us to have nuclear plants? Just common sense. I don't know why some of us keep naming these international bodies like Africa holds any stake in any of them. The members of these bodies do not have AFRICA AS A PRIORITY and never will.

Wind power is expensive that isn't in dispute here, however after about 20 years, the cost is usually paid for and the it becomes virtually free! Another option is instead of having huge expensive windmills, there are now smaller cheaper ones that can be used by one household. They're smaller, cheaper and basically pay for themselves after ten years! What's more, the technology is constantly being improved and thereby cost going down. Another option is to just use candles and kerosene lamps; your choice.

Don't be fooled slytheron! I agree with GIO. Having done a research on nuclear energy I came across an interesting common denominator of all developed nations and fast emerging economies.....that denominator is Cheap Clean and sustainable energy. To be more specific that energy is Nuclear. Now let me not start naming the naming those nations outside of europe that have their own nuclear Reactors, countries like Iran, Israel, South Africa, I won't even touch on the former soviet nations and worse even south american countries which are Unsafer than Kenya.....Its true that kenya has porous borders but aren't the borders of Iran much more worse than the Kenyan ones!!!? Kenya only needs to Move a strong Agenda through its development partners and other international bodies to have its voice heard! If Nigeria has, why not Kenya(the fourth Largest economy on the Continent of africa and one of the fastest emerging economy on the continent too!) WHY NOT?
While energy is critical in the development of a nation, and more so cheap Green energy, Adopting a more expensive source of energy(whether green or not) now will do more harm than good to an economy like kenya's, principally because kenya needs cheap energy now, not tomorrow n most certainly not the day after tomorrow! what wind power has done is providing a workable solution for tomorrow........Kenya needs to adress the energy situation in the country now! with a solution workable now. secondly Kenya needs up to 10,000MW of electricity by the next 8yrs to hit its 2030 development goal! If kenya Banks on wind energy for the that, its dream of being a middle level economy will be short lived. reason being Wind energy is a very expensive venture that is not voluminous. whereas a nuclear Plant costing $1billion will produce upto 7,000 MW, an equal amount of money put in a wind farm will produce upto 1,200 MW. lets even not touch on wind pattern changes that will most certainly affect the production of Elec.
Now you see slytheron the math is simple, If you were heading the government....or if you were Kenya and had to make that choice......what would you Go For?:colbert:

whoa! it's really happening...thumbs up for turkana district and kenya...i've lived in kakuma and lodwar and i can tell you the winds there are terrible..its good that they're finally going to harvest it.

u sure Kenya is the 4th largest economy? I would put SA, Nigeria, Egypt, Morocco, Libya, Gabon, Botswana all ahead.... Uganda too, with its new oil

u sure Kenya is the 4th largest economy? I would put SA, Nigeria, Egypt, Morocco, Libya, Gabon, Botswana all ahead.... Uganda too, with its new oil

Shh... don't tell anyone its 4th(Sub-Sahara) 10th(Africa).;)

Shh... don't tell anyone its 4th(Sub-Sahara) 10th(Africa).;)

Kenya is the 9th largest economy in Africa.Far too much ahead of Uganda.Even with her new oil Uganda will take 50 years to bypass Kenyan economy[note that the Uganda percapita is only 400$ compared to Kenya's 900$,not forgetting that UG ha 7 million less in population compared to Kenya] .Botswana is not a big economy....it only has big per capita income due to its small population and good mineral incomes..
Economies follows in this order
1.S.Africa2.Egypt 3.Nigeria 4.Algeria 5.Angola 6.Libya 7 Morocco 8.Tunisia 9.Kenya 10.Ethiopia

Kenya is the 9th largest economy in Africa.Far too much ahead of Uganda.Even with her new oil Uganda will take 50 years to bypass Kenyan economy[note that the Uganda percapita is only 400$ compared to Kenya's 900$,not forgetting that UG ha 7 million less in population compared to Kenya] .Botswana is not a big economy....it only has big per capita income due to its small population and good mineral incomes..
Economies follows in this order
1.S.Africa2.Egypt 3.Nigeria 4.Algeria 5.Angola 6.Libya 7 Morocco 8.Tunisia 9.Kenya 10.Ethiopia

You forgot Sudan, as at now they are pearched over Kenya. In the next two years their economy might take a tumble if the South succeeds with 85% of the oil.

You forgot Sudan, as at now they are pearched over Kenya. In the next two years their economy might take a tumble if the South succeeds with 85% of the oil.


You are right.

edit

according sundays daily nation the contract was signed on friday last week btn the government represented by finance ps and the company manager director.if i can remember well the project has been guaranted by wrld bank and the company is scheduled 2 release the 1st 50mgwts early next yr

according sundays daily nation the contract was signed on friday last week btn the government represented by finance ps and the company manager director.if i can remember well the project has been guaranted by wrld bank and the company is scheduled 2 release the 1st 50mgwts early next yr

^^more info from this linkhttp://www.constructionkenya.com/1951/lake-turkana-wind-project-to-start-by-december/

Ketraco offered Sh63bn for new lines
Business Daily (http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/Corporate+News/Ketraco+offered+Sh63bn+for+new+lines+/-/539550/1252816/-/s0m3jm/-/)
9 October 2011
International financiers will give Kenya Sh62.6 billion for the construction of transmission lines to enable the country tap into new power plants in the arid north and surpluses from her two neighbours.

Spain will give €110 million (about Sh14.9 billion) to build a line to transport power from a wind farm in Turkana with counterpart state funding set at €49 million (about Sh6.62 billion).

The line is expected to cost about Sh20.6 billion, the Kenya Electricity Transmission Company (Ketraco) said.

A substation to be built at Loyangalani will cost about Sh4.32 billion while Sh190 million will be used to compensate those displaced by the line.

Ketraco said another 400 Kilovolt power transmission line spanning over 1,200 kilometres between Suswa and Sodo in Ethiopia will be financed by the World Bank and African Development Bank (AfDB) at $350 million (Sh35 billion) to tap into that country’s vast hydro sources.

In addition, AfDB is funding the Kenya-Uganda line to the tune of $70 million (about Sh7 billion), according to Ketraco chief executive Joel Kiilu.

Mr Kiilu said the agreement with the Spanish government is set for signing before year end, ahead of part commissioning of a sixth of the plant’s capacity estimated at 300MW or 17 per cent of the national capacity.

“We have the goodwill from financiers. The AfDB has agreed to finance the interconnector with Uganda for $70 million,” said Mr Kiilu in a telephone interview.

Officials of Lake Turkana Wind Power (LTWP) said in an email response that they expect to close the financing by April next year with commissioning of 50MW expected a year and a half later.

“Construction of the generation plant will start at financial close targeted at first quarter of 2012. The transmission line will start at the same time.
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Private financiers

The first 50MW will be commissioned in the last quarter of 2013 and full commissioning of the 300MW targeted approximately nine months after,” said the email response.

An agreement between promoters and the private financiers of the project last week shows it will cost €7.52 cents/per kilowatt hour.

This represents a four per cent increase from €7.22, the initial PPA reached in early 2010 before Treasury backed out of securities valued at €42 million that were being sought by financiers, instead granting letters of comfort to delay commissioning of the project.

Project’s owners had in 2009 expressed interest in constructing the line, but the government rejected the move after it emerged that costs would push up the cost of power.

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Kenya targets to start wind power production in 2012

A financing deal for Kenya’s largest wind power farm will be concluded in the first quarter of next year, its sponsors said, setting Kenya on the path to becoming the region’s leader in renewable energy.

Mr Carlo Van Wageningen, the chairman of Lake Turkana Wind Power, told participants at the climate change talks in Durban that conclusion of the deal paves the way for the Euro 600 million plant to produce the first 50 megawatts (MW) of electricity in the third quarter of next year. “We expect to close the financing deal in March or April 2012 and to have full production of 300 MW a year later,” he said in a presentation to showcase the project in Durban.

The announcement comes a year after the Treasury offered the financiers guarantees they had sought against political and other risks. The Turkana wind farm, billed as one of the largest in the world, is being financed through a 30 per cent syndicated loan arranged by the African Development Bank. Other financiers are the Standard and Ned banks of South Africa, BKF, a Danish development bank and the European Investment Bank who will pump in Euro 42.8 million.

The project is 51 per cent owned by Aldywich International, South Africa’s IDB (25 per cent), Pan Africa Investment Development Fund and Vestas— the Danish leading manufacturer of wind turbines (12.5 per cent) and the six co-founders (6.5 per cent).

KP and P Africa B.V, a special purpose vehicle, registered in Denmark is the holding company for the wind power firm. The Turkana wind power company hopes to produce electricity at the cost of €7.52 cents per kilowatt hour making it the cheapest power source in Kenya.

Lake Turkana Wind Project in Kenya to Break Ground in April
Bloomberg (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-20/lake-turkana-wind-project-in-kenya-to-break-ground-in-april-1-.html)
20 January 2011
Lake Turkana Wind Power Ltd., a company set up to build what it says will be sub-Saharan Africa’s largest wind farm, plans to start construction in April, said Chairman Carlo van Wageningen.

The 300-megawatt project in northwest Kenya will cost 583 million euros ($756 million), Van Wageningen told reporters today in Nairobi, the capital. About 70 percent of the funds will be from debt and 30 percent from shareholders, he said.

“We believe that if all goes well, the first 50 megawatts can be online by the fourth quarter of 2013,” and the rest by the end of 2014, Van Wageningen said.

Kenya Power Ltd. (KPLL), the east African nation’s monopoly power distributor, has agreed to buy 300 megawatts of electricity over two decades from the project in the country’s northwest.

The project will comprise 365 wind turbines, each with a capacity of 850 kilowatts, installed on 40,000 acres, Van Wageningen said. The company leased 150,000 acres of land in an area with a capacity to produce 2,000 megawatts of wind power, he said.

“Our intention will be to invest in the future as the system grows and demand grows,” Van Wageningen said.

Lake Turkana Wind Project in Kenya to Break Ground in April
AFP (http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5ixMC9JbFOW7W-9y9aZEv3wXlfNPw?docId=CNG.0008368da129efbedb740d4b4c908745.941)
24 March 2012

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/media/ALeqM5gJxo5e1syLVfz-572F3Ns_EPLHIg?docId=photo_1332594551713-1-0&size=l
The construction of what is to become Africa's biggest wind farm will start by June in an arid region of northern Kenya, the project's officials said on Saturday.

A total of 365 wind turbines will be erected near Lake Turkana, where winds blow predictably and regularly, averaging speeds of 11 metres per second.

After seven years of study and funding negotiations, the 585 million euro ($775 million) project is to take off in June once risk guarantees from the Ida and Miga financial institutions -- part of the World Bank Group -- are finalised, Carlo Van Wageningen, head of Lake Turkana Wind Power, told AFP.

"All the contracts are in place. We're ready to start" the work once we get these garantees, he said.

The first step will be to improve on or build 204 kilometres (126 miles) of road in northern Kenya for the trucks that will make 12,000 trips to bring in all the materials for the project in the remote, neglected region.

"We're in the middle of nowhere. There is no infrastructure whatsoever," Van Wageningen said, adding that the wind farm site resembles "photos of the surface of the moon."

A 428-kilometre transmission line will also be built to link the wind farm to the national grid at an additional cost of 142 million euros.

The transmission line will be built by Isolux Corsan of Spain and financed by loans from the Spanish and Kenyan governments.

The wind farm is expected to start production of the first 50 MW in mid-2014 and reach full capacity in early 2015, by which time it should have an installed capacity of 300 megawatts.

Total energy generation in Kenya was 6,460 MW hours in 2008, half from hydroelectric power, one-third from oil and 16 percent from geothermal power, according to the Global Energy Network Institute.

Morocco currently boasts Africa's largest wind energy production, with a capacity of 140 megawatts from 165 turbines.

The consortium for the Kenyan project has entered into a contract to sell the power produced to utility firm Kenya Power over 20 years at a cost of 7.52 euro cents/kwh, a price, which, together with geothermal, is the lowest in Kenya.

"Here you can produce windpower at an interesting cost, without subsidies," unlike the case in Europe, Van Wageningen said.

The African Development Bank said it was "heading the financing process" to arrange for a loan that will cover 70 percent of the project cost. Others are Britain's Standard Bank and South Africa's Nedbank.

The remaining 30 percent is financed by investment funds and co-developers.

Van Wageningen said the project is the largest private investment in East Africa.

These delays are putting serious doubts on whether the project will go on after all
On paper, Africa's largest wind power project seems relatively straight forward - 365 wind power turbines to be erected over 24,000 acres in Turkana and a 400kilometre transmission line to ferry the generated power to connect to the national grid at Suswa.

In reality, as the Kenya government and state energy corporations involved are finding out, getting the project off the ground is far more difficult and it is now clear it will not commence next month as initially expected.

The delay has been occasioned by international financiers who are to fund the Sh80billion project who want certain assurances before they sign onto it.

Essentially, they boil down to two things; one, power distributor Kenya Power stands to incur heavy penalties if it is unable to take up power from the wind farm. This could happen if the power plant is ready and the transmission line is not or the transmission line could experience other problems including vandalism and acts of God that prevent evacuation of power. Investors want to be covered.

The second issue is whether Kenya Power can be relied on to buy the power generated by the wind farm under the contract it has with the producer, that is to make regular payments as agreed. These demands have triggered a series of events that have ultimately led to the involvement of the World Bank Group and two of its agencies; the Multilateral Guarantee Investment Agency and the International Development Agency.

Kenya Power asked the Kenya government to provide the guarantees demanded and the government in turn brought in the World Bank. Another state-owned entity, the Kenya Electricity Transmission Company, has been drawn into the issue because how it performs in putting up the transmission line from Loiyangalani to Suswa directly affects the risks Kenya Power faces.

To start with, the project has two separate components each funded by different bodies; the wind power plant which will cost Sh62billion and is lead financed by the African Development Bank and the Sh15bn transmission line funded by the Spanish government and implemented by the Kenya Electricity Transmission Company.

Being independently financed, the danger is that the power plant may be completed ahead of the transmission line opening up Kenya Power to stiff financial penalties it will owe Lake Turkana Wind Power company.

"The government of Kenya and Kenya Power were supposed to provide certain securities towards our lenders, the African Development Bank," the chairman of Lake Turkana Power Carlo Van Wageningen said. "The Kenya government requested the intervention of the World Bank to assist in providing them such securities."

A spokesman from the World Bank writing through the Kenya country office said MIGA has ben asked to provide investment guarantees that will act as insurance cover for lenders and possibly shareholders in case certain specified events arise. IDA which is better known for funding roads and energy projects in Kenya will backstop payment obligations that Kenya Power has to make to LTWP under their power purchasing agreement.

Under the MIGA guarantee investors would want to be covered for political risks including change of government that could bring in different policies including things such as the power tariffs regime. "When you look at the PPA with Kenya Power and Lake Turkana people, there are some severe penalties if the plant is ready and KPLC cannot take the supply and one of the reasons they may not be able to take the supply is if we delay with this line," Engineer Joel Kiilu, the director-general of Ketraco told The Star on phone. "If that penalty kicks off, Kenya Power will really suffer so (they) asked the government to see if that penalty risk can be covered and it is the World Bank which was approached to provide that cover just in the event if that took place."

Kenya Power officials had little to say when contacted only indicating that certain negotiations are ongoing. "I am made to understand that the issues you raised are matters that are under negotiation between LTWP and Kenya Power and have not been concluded," Migwi Theuri, the Kenya Power spokesman told The Star by email.

The projected timelines for both projects sheds light on the power utility's concerns. The construction of the transmission line is supposed to take 23 months while that of the power plant 26 months. If both commence at the same time, Kenya Power has only a buffer of three months within when it should have started taking power.

Concerns have now arisen as to whether the transmission line can be done in that time and government officials are hinting at renegotiating the deadlines. "The contract for the transmission line was signed, but it had very tight completion deadlines and therefore it is being reviewed with a view to extending the period so that the power station will not be completed ahead of the line. So that will be resolved," Energy permanent secretary Patrick Nyoike told The Star.

"If the power station is ready and the transmission line is not ready, then the producer of the wind energy, will be entitled to compensation. We need to synchronize the timing for completion of the wind power and the transmission line so there will be no claims."

Ketraco confirmed it had received a request from Kenya Power to relook at its completion dates to make sure they are feasible. An Indian-firm, Power Grid, has been asked to review the contract Ketraco has with Isolux and has issued two reports with the final one expected soon. "Actually, those completion dates were very tight so one of the things Power Grid was looking at was those dates, are they realistic?" Eng. Kiilu said.

Funding for the line meantime is expected soon. "The communication we got from the Economic Counsellor of the Spanish government was that the Spanish government had approved that loan worth 100million euros," Eng. Kiilu said. Kiilu said Ketraco is waiting communication from Spain so that Treasury can look at the loan agreement Once it is signed, Ketraco will give final notice to proceed to Isolux. "On our side we are going on with wayleave acquisition. We are now talking to the counties so that when they hit the ground, they find that the land is clear," Kiilu said.

LTWP's Wageningen expresses confidence that the whole approval process could be through soon. "The World Bank has an internal process that is sometimes a bit lengthy because it needs to review and properly analyze the risks involved and that is what is taking some time but the process is nearing completion, hopefully by the end of this month and the middle of June, the process will be complete," he said.

But statements from the World Bank indicate the process could take much longer as the multilateral lender seeks an exhaustive mitigation of all risks. "At this time, we can only confirm that the Government of Kenya has requested the Bank's assistance in the manner described above, because timing of Board presentation depends on a range of factors including pipeline of projects, the technical team's appraisal assessment, etc," the World Bank spokesman said. "As a guarantor, the Bank will conduct its appraisal once the parties confirm that the arrangements are in place."

The lead financier, African Development Bank in the meantime has to wait before it can bring in syndication partners. " It is a complex project and we are working together with sponsors and the Kenya government and Kenya Power to make sure that the project is structured correctly, the right technology is used," Ewan Wheeler, who heads the private sector department at the AfDB regional office in Nairobi told The Star.

These delays are putting serious doubts on whether the project will go on after all

I think the solution would be to have a second player in the power distribution market, KP is a disgrace!!

I think the solution would be to have a second player in the power distribution market, KP is a disgrace!!

Why not liberalize the power market completely, like a lot of European countries have done? Healthy (though properly regulated) competition at all levels in the market is the best solution for the consumers.

Why not liberalize the power market completely, like a lot of European countries have done? Healthy (though properly regulated) competition at all levels in the market is the best solution for the consumers.

You are liretally repeating what I said? Introducing a second player is the beginning of liberalization.

These delays are putting serious doubts on whether the project will go on after all

i have no doubts the project will go on.

^^delays should be expected, but the project shall commence.:yes:

More delays from the worldbank

Failure by the Government to guarantee that it will buy power generated from a wind farm being proposed for set up in Turkana, risks stalling what is being billed as the biggest wind power-producing project in Africa.

The lack of assurance, which has now degenerated to a stalemate between the State and the project’s financiers, is despite the constant power shortages experienced in the country especially during the dry period.

Sources close to the project managers say the stalemate has arisen from a request by the World Bank, a key player, for clarification on the power purchase agreement to guarantee a constant uptake of power from the plant.

Currently, the government only turns to independent power producers during peak periods when demand outstrips supply from state-owned producers.

“The World Bank has asked for a re-opening of discussions on the project and before this is done, it will be very hard to move forward,” sources who sought anonymity as they are not authorised to speak on behalf of the Lake Turkana Wind Power Project (LTWP) company told the Nation.

The project, being undertaken by a consortium of European and African companies, is estimated to cost Sh62.6 billion (585 million Euros) with the World Bank guaranteeing Sh4.5 billion (42 million Euros).

Its main financiers are African Development Bank, Standard Bank of South Africa and Nedbank Capital of South Africa. Above the Sh4.5 billion, the World Bank also guarantees to step in and finance, if need be, Kenya Power to buy the power generated, making it an influential actor on the success or failure of the project.

The project hopes to set up 365 wind turbines on a 41,000 acre piece of land at the rate of one turbine per day, with the first kilowatts of electricity planned to be delivered to the grid by the end of 2013.
http://www.nation.co.ke/business/news/Wind+farm+project+could+stall++/-/1006/1424736/-/12t4uv9/-/index.html

More delays from the worldbank

Why is this world bank is always nagging.The earlier we become dependent on other sources of funding like AFDB or far east the better.

The WB is providing €42m of the €585m, how is that being a major player when that's just 7% of funding? If the main financiers AfDB, Standard Bank & NedBank are okay then what's the problem?:?

The WB is providing €42m of the €585m, how is that being a major player when that's just 7% of funding? If the main financiers AfDB, Standard Bank & NedBank are okay then what's the problem?:?


The government should take the US$42mn as part of its shareholding in the green project. Or this could be taken by Kenya Power. Why would 7% hold back 93%? It just makes no sense.

The government should take the US$42mn as part of its shareholding in the green project. Or this could be taken by Kenya Power. Why would 7% hold back 93%? It just makes no sense.

You beat me to it, I was going to ask the same question.

We should look at this issue from a different angle, it is ok to apportion blame on the world bank but why would investors sink their money in the project if the government is unwilling to provide a guarantee that all the power will be bought?
Maybe the conditions of the world bank are more stringent than the other financiers but they are raising a perfectly legitimate query.

The WB is providing €42m of the €585m, how is that being a major player when that's just 7% of funding? If the main financiers AfDB, Standard Bank & NedBank are okay then what's the problem?:?

Perhaps the others have agreed only to finance the project if World Bank finances as well? This way the each financier doesn't need to individually check if the project is viable, they simply trust WB to do the due diligence checking. I don't know if that is the case, but that would be one explanation.

But yes, this project needs going forward as soon as possible. Kenya keeping burning oil for electricity is expensive and bad for import/export balances.

We should look at this issue from a different angle, it is ok to apportion blame on the world bank but why would investors sink their money in the project if the government is unwilling to provide a guarantee that all the power will be bought?
Maybe the conditions of the world bank are more stringent than the other financiers but they are raising a perfectly legitimate query.

Perhaps the others have agreed only to finance the project if World Bank finances as well? This way the each financier doesn't need to individually check if the project is viable, they simply trust WB to do the due diligence checking. I don't know if that is the case, but that would be one explanation.

But yes, this project needs going forward as soon as possible. Kenya keeping burning oil for electricity is expensive and bad for import/export balances.

The other financiers are commercial banks (Standard Bank & Nedbank from SA), and the AfDB. I doubt they'd put hundreds of millions of dollars for a project on the line depending on the WB's opinions/concerns regarding the project. They have to make sure they're making sound investments too, and the government not being clear on whether or not it would purchase musn't have been a concern given they're still providing the funding.

Civicon clinches Sh3.2b Turkana road deal
Posted by CHARLES GICHANE on July 9, 2012


Finally a step in the right direction


NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 9 – Leading civil and engineering company Civicon has won a Sh3.2 billion ($36 million) contract to rehabilitate 204 kilometers of access roads for the Lake Turkana Wind Power Project (LTWP) and the construction of an on-site road network spanning 109 kilometers.

The upgrading of the road network to gravel standard is aimed at opening up the area for the delivery of the 365 Vestas Wind Turbines and the Siemens Transformers when the construction of Africa’s largest wind power project officially begins.

The contract is expected to last 15 months and it has been approved by Kenya National Highway Authority (KeNHa), Kenya Rural Roads Authority (KeRRa) and the County Council of Marsabit.

All environmental and social impact assessments have been approved by the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) and done to Equator Principles (EPs), which are a voluntary set of standards for determining, assessing and managing social and environmental risk in project financing.

“We are delighted to be part of the largest single private investment in Kenya,” Project Manager John Latham said.

“Ultimately, transportation of goods and services in the area will also receive a major boost and in particular the upgraded road will traverse challenging areas and the route will be all weather,” he explained.

In an effort to create value for skilled unemployed people, the project is intending to generate more than 500 jobs and Civicon is planning to allocate 150-200 jobs to the local community, while the rest will be recruited countrywide during the upgrade.

“The Northern Kenya area will finally join the rest of the country with the completion of this project, as the upgraded road will open up trade from Northern Kenya, make Marsabit County accessible and allow for “other” potential investors to set up new businesses,” he said.

“The security in the region covered by this road network will drastically improve because local authorities will now be able to easily access areas which are un-accessible today,” he added.

Civicon is in the process of prospecting for more boreholes in the area to provide water for the road construction. These boreholes will be subsequently handed over to the local communities after the completion of the road contract.

The LTWP aims to provide 300 Megawatts of reliable, low cost wind power to the Kenyan National grid, equivalent to approximately 20 percent of the current installed electricity generating capacity.

The project is of significant strategic benefit to Kenya, and at Sh75 billion, will be the largest single private investment in Kenya’s history.

Good move :banana:
Firm fast-tracks Sh75bn wind power project, ditches World Bank

By NATION REPORTER
Posted Tuesday, October 16 2012 at 18:41

In Summary

The decision, according to Lake Turkana Wind Power Company (LTWP) chairman Carlo Wageningen, was arrived at following an evaluation of the length of time the project has stalled
The company is now pursuing a number of other options that will enable it obtain financing for the project, including holding talks with lending institutions

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An electricity generation firm which in the process of setting up a Sh75 billion wind power plant in Turkana County has terminated talks with the World Bank that could have seen it obtain the much needed guarantee for funding for the project.

The decision, according to Lake Turkana Wind Power Company (LTWP) chairman Carlo Wageningen, was arrived at following an evaluation of the length of time the project has stalled and also in a bid to fast track the setting up of what could be the single largest wind power plant in the country.

Once operational, the plant is hoped to provide an additional 300 megawatts to the national grid system, pointing to a possible reduction in the cost of electricity.

“The World Bank entered the project late when LTWP had completed about 90 per cent of the process. Initially, expectations were that the bank would do its evaluation of the project and offer guarantees within a year.

“Unfortunately, it has to satisfy a number of its internal procedures for approval of projects, hence our decision together with the government to move on,” said Mr Wageningen.

The company is now pursuing a number of other options that will enable it obtain financing for the project, including holding talks with lending institutions.

This could point to a possible rise in the cost of borrowing as such institutions put margins to cover for risk of loan default.

However, according to Mr Wageningen, the company has reached an agreement with the government whereby it will not increase the price at which it will sell electricity to Kenya Power, meaning that the change of track in securing finances will not have much impact on consumers as regards the cost of electricity.

“Our feeding tariff will remain 7.52 Euro cents per kilowatt hour. We have decided to absorb the additional costs that might come with pursuing these options,” he said.

Only 10% of the project needs funding and somebody will be able to cover the final investment.. Finally tough moves on the resistant world bank I hope other projects in the country slice the world bank away and get serious lenders

The World Bank has formed a habit of rejecting major developmental projects in east Africa over flimsy grounds. It has now pulled out of the Lake Turkana wind power project-the largest wind power project in Africa. This is the third major Kenyan project the bank is pulling out of in Six years. It is also the sixth or seventh major project the Bank is rejecting on similar grounds in east Africa. Ironically, other financiers do not have problems with the same projects when presented to them for financing.
http://eaerb.blogspot.com/2012/10/oh-no-not-world-bank-again.html

Kenya Power’s deal that forced World Bank out of wind farm
Business Daily (http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/Kenya+Power+deal+that+forced+World+Bank+out+of+wind+farm+/-/539546/1538602/-/11vcp2sz/-/index.html)
21 October 2012
In Summary


The World Bank’s letter, which says Kenya could be stuck with excess power worth up to Sh8.5 billion annually, emerged as the Ministry of Energy confirmed the project will go ahead but with no State guarantees.


Spain will provide €110 million (about Sh14.9 billion) to build the line with counterpart State funding set at €49 million (about Sh6.62 billion).


A substation to be built at Loyangalani will cost about Sh4.32 billion while Sh190 million will be used to compensate those displaced by the line.


Electricity distributor Kenya Power signed an onerous power purchase agreement with a Turkana-based power producer forcing the World Bank to withdraw its backing for the project.

The World Bank says its decision to withdraw guarantees it had agreed to offer the mega project is partly informed by the power purchase agreement that commits consumers to paying billions of shillings for electricity not used — effectively beating the project’s primary purpose of reducing the cost of power in Kenya.

The bank says in a letter to sponsors of the Lake Turkana Wind Power (LTWP) that its recent assessment of the plan has led to the conclusion that the viability of Kenya Power would also be seriously compromised if the giant project is implemented as proposed by its owners.

“We believe that the take-or-pay provisions in the PPA between LTWP and KPLC would expose Kenya Power to unacceptably large financial risk given the possible curtailment,” the bank says in a letter signed by Johannes Zutt, its country director for Kenya.

Mr Zutt says in the letter that was written after a World Bank mission to Nairobi between September 25 and 28 that the multi-lateral lender was particularly unsettled by the discovery that the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) Kenya Power signed with LTWP commits the electricity distributor and consumers to paying for excess power from the wind farm.

About 70 per cent of the surplus electricity from the wind farm would be paid for through consumer power bills leaving government-owned Kenya Power with the remaining 30 per cent or about Sh2.6 billion, says the World Bank in a letter seen by the Business Daily.

Mr Zutt says such an arrangement would beat the logic of putting up the wind farm to reduce the high cost of power brought about by heavy reliance on fossil fuel generation.

“KPLC’s financial stability is critical to the continuing effort to increase access to electricity in Kenya, and we urge caution in putting unsustainable financial obligations on it,” the World Bank says in the letter.

It advises that the project be implemented in phases noting that commissioning of the project would “dramatically” scale up wind power share in the national grid from current one per cent to between 14 and 17 per cent.
“After careful review and analysis and based on the discussion of the latest mission, we have concluded that we are unable to support the LTWP as currently structured,” the bank says.

That position is in direct conflict with that of the owners of the project and Vision 2030 director general Mugo Kibati who announced last week that they had decided to proceed without the World Bank because of its lengthy internal procedures.

The bank, which was to offer guarantees to investors in the Sh66 billion project in case power produced was not bought, officially dumped the project on October 6, 2012.

Besides demand side concerns, the bank also doubted Kenya Electricity Transmission Company’s (Ketraco) ability to complete the Sh20.6 billion transmission line between Loyingalani and Suswa in time for immediate addition of Turkana wind power to the national grid.
The World Bank says its experience with construction of power lines in Kenya is that it cannot be completed within the stated time, a reality that would expose Kenya Power to paying for electricity it will not be able to supply to consumers and consumers to paying for what they did not use.

The bank entered the project last year in response to a government request for assistance in the provision of guarantees to the sponsors.
The guarantees assignment was to be shared between the World Bank’s soft-lending arm, the International Development Association (IDA) and its political risk underwriting associate, the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (Miga).

At 300MW, the Turkana project is billed as Africa’s largest wind farm but the World Bank now says its viability lies in a phased implementation that brings on board between 60MW and 100MW at every stage and is timed with the expected rise in demand over the next 10 years.

The World Bank says in its letter to the stakeholders that even if power demand grew by 10 per cent annually and assuming a suppressed demand of 200MW, consumers (based on annual net cash flow between $70 million and $100 million) would still be condemned to paying $30 million or Sh2.5 billion for the surplus power.

The amount would rise to $100 million or Sh8.5 billion if annual demand grew by five per cent per annum.
The bank further claims that Kenya Power does not have the experience to handle such quantity of electricity raising the prospect of disrupting the power system. The thinking within government however appears to be diametrically opposed to the multilateral lender’s position.

Last week, LTWP officials joined Mr Kibati to announce that the project would proceed, betraying an ill-concealed tinge of triumphatism over World Bank.

Mr Kibati accompanied by Carlo Van Wageningen, the LTWP chairman, said the project plan would soon be closed because it had the backing of the government.

“We will close this project very soon because the Government is committed to seeing it through.”
A source at power transmission firm Ketraco told the Business Daily that the agency was happy with the World Bank’s decision to quit.

“We are happy that the World Bank has withdrawn. They were putting a lot of hurdles in our way but now we can go ahead.”

The World Bank’s letter, which says Kenya could be stuck with excess power worth up to Sh8.5 billion annually, emerged as the Ministry of Energy confirmed the project will go ahead but with no State guarantees.

Spain will provide €110 million (about Sh14.9 billion) to build the line with counterpart State funding set at €49 million (about Sh6.62 billion).

A substation to be built at Loyangalani will cost about Sh4.32 billion while Sh190 million will be used to compensate those displaced by the line.

Energy PS Patrick Nyoike on Friday maintained that the Treasury would not offer guarantees to the financiers led by the African Development Bank (AfDB).

I think, the World Bank has a valid argument, which should be assessed. It's hard for me to tell who is right and who is not, because I do not have enough information about the details of the contracts, but the argument has to be followed up. I would like to know from the government and the contractors, if Kenya Power really has to buy and pay the electricity produced, if there is no demand for it,or not. Wind power has a lot of fluctuations and you can not simple regulate the amount of electricity produced. It is quite possible that there will be a lot of wind at night and therefore you will have a surplus of electricty. It would be wrong, if the consumer have to pay for this electricity without using it.

I think, the World Bank has a valid argument, which should be assessed. It's hard for me to tell who is right and who is not, because I do not have enough information about the details of the contracts, but the argument has to be followed up. I would like to know from the government and the contractors, if Kenya Power really has to buy and pay the electricity produced, if there is no demand for it,or not. Wind power has a lot of fluctuations and you can not simple regulate the amount of electricity produced. It is quite possible that there will be a lot of wind at night and therefore you will have a surplus of electricty. It would be wrong, if the consumer have to pay for this electricity without using it.


The investors also need some guarantees that the power generated will be needed otherwise their investment can be shunned after getting cheaper power from ethiopia. In any case so many of our homesteads are still not connected to the power grid to be talking of excess power.

I don't think that thing alone can bring us more than enough power, remember their are international investors waiting with power being their limiting factor, the moment we increase generation, they will be flocking here.

I don't think that thing alone can bring us more than enough power, remember their are international investors waiting with power being their limiting factor, the moment we increase generation, they will be flocking here.


The problem we have with power is more its reliability and stability than availability. The reasons that cause the it to be unreliable and unavailable are more urgent than creating more. I don't know the balance of truth in less electricity available causing the blackouts to poor distribution systems. That is what we should focus on. Building reliable distribution systems which will for sure deliver when called upon to, rather than creating even more when we cannot reliably distribute even the little we have. I mean we have times when power outage times are announced, and they go well beyond the announced times, why? Sometimes it goes off at announced times and more into tomes we should have it. See the point? We build weak systems. That should change first, otherwise we might have all generation stations roaring with power and the power not reaching the homes, factories, etc

I think, the World Bank has a valid argument, which should be assessed. It's hard for me to tell who is right and who is not, because I do not have enough information about the details of the contracts, but the argument has to be followed up.

The World Bank relies on us not trusting our own local Engineers to be able to give any kind of lame excuse based on their expectations of our capacity to develop and we just go along with it. Image how Ugly Nairobi would be if the World Bank was spearheading the beautification projects in the past. They would keep on arguing it is wasted money for a poor country and in turn would spend millions on consulting fees while no work gets done. I agree let the World Bank go, if a mistake is made fine we will learn. If not great. Either way Kenya grows.

The problem we have with power is more its reliability and stability than availability. The reasons that cause the it to be unreliable and unavailable are more urgent than creating more. I don't know the balance of truth in less electricity available causing the blackouts to poor distribution systems. That is what we should focus on. Building reliable distribution systems which will for sure deliver when called upon to, rather than creating even more when we cannot reliably distribute even the little we have. I mean we have times when power outage times are announced, and they go well beyond the announced times, why? Sometimes it goes off at announced times and more into tomes we should have it. See the point? We build weak systems. That should change first, otherwise we might have all generation stations roaring with power and the power not reaching the homes, factories, etc

I agree that distribution is a problem, especially with cheap transformers that blow up during rainfall and also other acts of vandalism like siphoning oil from transformers. This is why as much as oil transformers are cheap, KP needs to invest more in the more expensive but durable dry-type transformers to discourage acts of vandalism.
Apart from distribution, availability is also a problem. Our rural electrification rate should be something around 18% and the urban rate is dissapointing even by SSA standards, alot of people are still waiting to be connected to the grid, and money is not the problem.

I frikkin knew it! Oh my goodness! The WB is a damn joke when it comes to construction financing in Africa. So, all of a sudden they can't finance the project because some of their demands were not met? Seriously?
How on earth did they sign on in the beginning? Do they mean to say that they committed to the project without carrying out a feasibility study beforehand?

How about the stinking WB come out and admit that they either never meant to back the project,.... or that they got leaned on by strong western powers to torpedo the project....
You can't win with these guys... either you aren't doing enough, or worse, you're doing too much.
The fact that the LTWP & the govt decided to go ahead with the project regardless, tells me that they were expecting this move by the WB.

Get China on the phone pronto!

After China comes in, they'll be here courting us again, wait and you'll see.

I frikkin knew it! Oh my goodness! The WB is a damn joke when it comes to construction financing in Africa. So, all of a sudden they can't finance the project because some of their demands were not met? Seriously?
How on earth did they sign on in the beginning? Do they mean to say that they committed to the project without carrying out a feasibility study beforehand?

How about the stinking WB come out and admit that they either never meant to back the project,.... or that they got leaned on by strong western powers to torpedo the project....
You can't win with these guys... either you aren't doing enough, or worse, you're doing too much.
The fact that the LTWP & the govt decided to go ahead with the project regardless, tells me that they were expecting this move by the WB.

Get China on the phone pronto!

Even the EU is another WB wannabe, i doubt their main interest is to help Africa achieve anything.

I really hate WB and any western funded projects. They waste africa's time and part of why its been so hard for africa to grow before the east came

After China comes in, they'll be here courting us again, wait and you'll see.

Boo Freaking Hoo!!! And they cry Kibaki is snabbing the west. GO HANG!

Boo Freaking Hoo!!! And they cry Kibaki is snabbing the west. GO HANG!


I think it's not right to react the way many of us have in this matter. This is not to mean they don't like to fund our projects, they are the largest donor we have to date anyway, it's just that may be what we proposed didn't make sense to them and it did not have to. So they opted out. They are in business of giving loans too, so if they are not happy with how the money will be used they have a right to say no and when it does make sense, they do give us lots of money. You need everyone in your fold. What if tomorrow something goes wrong with the East just the way it did with the west in the first place? Moderation is good and never be too fast to judge.

Soon we will have our own oil, gas and minerals money, then we wont be need their unreasonable loans. Why should i give you 20 bob then tell you how to use it?

I think it's not right to react the way many of us have in this matter. This is not to mean they don't like to fund our projects, they are the largest donor we have to date anyway, it's just that may be what we proposed didn't make sense to them and it did not have to. So they opted out. They are in business of giving loans too, so if they are not happy with how the money will be used they have a right to say no and when it does make sense, they do give us lots of money. You need everyone in your fold. What if tomorrow something goes wrong with the East just the way it did with the west in the first place? Moderation is good and never be too fast to judge.

First and foremost, lets make the distinction between donations & loans.

Donations are charity based monies handed out with stringent requirements based on different criteria that range from economic to social standards. The donor in this case ultimately decides how and when you can spend that ca$h. The money is not given out in whole but in bits to ensure their requirements are met.

On the other hand, a loan is money lent based on your ability to pay it back. If you've ever applied for a loan, two key elements dictate the success (or lack there of);
1. Your ability to pay it back.
2. The legality and/or chances of success of your loan venture.
Most banks are freewheeling in granting loans if they have iron clad assurances or have collateral to recoup their investment in the event of a failure in the venture. In Kenya's case, the WB stated issues like; "on time completion of the power lines in Kenya is suspect, surplus generation of power would be costly to consumers, the deal struck between the consortium & the government is not ideal to the bank"... etc etc. All that in a country that has the majority without access to electric power!
The biggest stumbling block according to prospective foreign investors in Kenya is the unreliability of power in the country. But somehow, Kenya has been faulted for gearing to generate more than the current required energy!
With the broad mining industry set to take off in Kenya, WB's position seems very disingenuous.
Kenya doesn't need donors, she needs investors. For 49 years Kenya has been the beneficiary of "donations"... and what do we have to show for it? Zero!

I agree that we may at some point need the financial muscle of the west, but we don't have to mortgage our home, sovereignty & future to do it.

I think it's not right to react the way many of us have in this matter. This is not to mean they don't like to fund our projects, they are the largest donor we have to date anyway, it's just that may be what we proposed didn't make sense to them and it did not have to. So they opted out. They are in business of giving loans too, so if they are not happy with how the money will be used they have a right to say no and when it does make sense, they do give us lots of money. You need everyone in your fold. What if tomorrow something goes wrong with the East just the way it did with the west in the first place? Moderation is good and never be too fast to judge.

Thanks dude for being a voice of moderation. WB stinks but we are not getting married to them or anything!! This is purely business and we will have more future projects together....insulting them is not the way forward. Trust me, I was PO'ed myself more than you can imagine...lets take this move with a pinch of salt and move on. After all, they came back to the toll road project after initially quitting on us...give them time.

Meanwhile, we go ahead with the project and that is what counts now. Kenya will develop and become an economic power house never to be ignored. WB funding or not! We must never display arrogance to both friends and foe. In business just like in politics, there are no permanent enemies.....just permanent interests. WB is a partner of Kenya and so is China. We need both on our side (competing for our business). God bless Kenya.

First and foremost, lets make the distinction between donations & loans.

Donations are charity based monies handed out with stringent requirements based on different criteria that range from economic to social standards. The donor in this case ultimately decides how and when you can spend that ca$h. The money is not given out in whole but in bits to ensure their requirements are met.

On the other hand, a loan is money lent based on your ability to pay it back. If you've ever applied for a loan, two key elements dictate the success (or lack there of);
1. Your ability to pay it back.
2. The legality and/or chances of success of your loan venture.
Most banks are freewheeling in granting loans if they have iron clad assurances or have collateral to recoup their investment in the event of a failure in the venture. In Kenya's case, the WB stated issues like; "on time completion of the power lines in Kenya is suspect, surplus generation of power would be costly to consumers, the deal struck between the consortium & the government is not ideal to the bank"... etc etc. All that in a country that has the majority without access to electric power!
The biggest stumbling block according to prospective foreign investors in Kenya is the unreliability of power in the country. But somehow, Kenya has been faulted for gearing to generate more than the current required energy!
With the broad mining industry set to take off in Kenya, WB's position seems very disingenuous.
Kenya doesn't need donors, she needs investors. For 49 years Kenya has been the beneficiary of "donations"... and what do we have to show for it? Zero!

I agree that we may at some point need the financial muscle of the west, but we don't have to mortgage our home, sovereignty & future to do it.


I think it's good to reflect and be a realist on thoughts, words and deeds. Just the other day the IMF gave Kenya a FX support loan of over KES 9bn, the IMF and the BW are both Bretton woods institutions, belonging and created by the west. You see, they will always be there, sometimes they cannot because may be we have a bad proposal or something. The fact is that however much we say we need trade and investments(and I agree), we do need aid and loans as well. (The US borrows as well). There is no one perfect answer. A combination of factors is at play, that's why. Kenya does not need aid, but some Kenyans do need aid, that's the reality. Have you read "Dead aid" by Dambisa Moyo? The world bank just granted farmers close to KES 200mn to improve horticulture....the list goes on if you visit BW website. Don't demonise them. And they provide employment to Kenyans...

No sweet words to the world bank, they can take their financing to the moon and the void left will be filled by the afdb, exim bank etc. Last time i checked thika road was financed by afdb and its complete, bypasses by exim bank and they are progressing awesomely well, isiolo merille,emali-loitokitok,njabini kinangop,athi river namanga are just some of the projects that were done right as scheduled because their financiers were not intrusive. Meanwhile the viaduct over uhuru highway is still a pipedream despite getting a financier before thika road, there is a litany of road projects on the northern corridor financed by world bank whose rate of progress is nothing to talk about.

One could say world bank always seems to find fault with nearly every project it is involved in. If it wants to stay risk free possibly it could stop being a developing country bank and remain in the western hemisphere(developed country bank).

http://english.cntv.cn/program/africalive/20130115/100638.shtml

here is a follow up on the Lake turkana wind project. a press release from the LTWP web site..
http://ltwp.co.ke/press-room/news-overview

28 February 2013, Nairobi, Kenya…. Today, Willem Dolleman of Lake Turkana Wind Power Project (LTWP) signed the Letter of Support alongside the Government of Kenya, represented by Permanent Secretary Joseph K. Kinyua of the the Ministry of Finance and the Permanent Secretary Patrick Nyoike of the Ministry of Energy. Also present was the off-taker Kenya Power & Lighting represented by the Managing Director and CEO Engineer Joseph K. Njoroge. The Letter enshrines the commitment of the Government of Kenya to support LTWP and will now enable the project to enter the final phase of financing. The wind project, which will be the largest single private investment in Kenya’s history, amounting to Ksh 70 billion (€600 million) has the additional backing from the African Development Bank, Kenya Power and Vision 2030.
The LTWP consortium comprising of Aldwych International, KP&P Africa, Industrial Fund for Developing Countries (IFU), Wind Power A.S. (Vestas) and Norwegian Investment Fund for Developing Countries (Norfund) are now confident that they will start construction later this year.

The Turkana wind power project has been given a new lease of life after African Development Bank approved $149.5 million (Sh12bn) funding, bringing to an end a seven-year battle with various authorities over its implementation.

“The approval of the funding is a major milestone in the development of the project. It is proof that financial close is now in sight.

“Seven long, arduous and challenging years have passed, since we dreamt of this wind farm, but the resolve and commitment remains unchanged by all the investors in Lake Turkana Wind Power,” the chairman, Mr Carlo Van Wageningen, said.

“We are eager to start construction of the power plant, and finally deliver this project to Kenya,” he added.

The project is expected to add 300MW to the national grid and help open up northern Kenya as about 200km of road will be built.

AfDB regional director for East Africa Resource Centre, Mr Gabriel Negatu, said the project will include construction and operation of the 300MW wind farm with 365 turbines of 850KW capacity each.

The project will be implemented through a special purpose vehicle created in 2006 by a group of investors that include Kemperman Paardekooper & partners Africa and Aldwych International Ltd.



:banana::banana::banana: Finally work on Africa's largest wind farm can begin

The African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved a KES 12.8 billion (US$155million) loan to finance the development of Lake Turkana Wind Power project within Loiyangalani, a remote village in northern Kenya.

Billed as Africa’s largest wind power project, the KES 65billion (US$776million) Turkana Wind Power project includes the construction and operation of a 300MW wind farm with 365 turbines of 850KW capacity each.The wind farm will sit on 40,000 acres in Loiyangalani district, stretching from 450 metres at the shore of Lake Turkana to 2,300 metres above sea level at the top of Mt. Kulal.
http://construction.constructionreviewonline.com/images/resized/images/stories/latest_news/wind-farm_210_216.gif
http://construction.constructionreviewonline.com/index.php/news/latest-news/1340-africa-s-largest-wind-power-project

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CCTV News

May 2013

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CCTV Africa News

May 2013

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KTN

May 2013

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NTV

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SE9 you had a field day on youtube today

CCTV Africa News

May 2013

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I have a question. how does the CCTV Africa work? is a cable channel offered in the likes of zuku Dstv etc, or I can just turn on my t.v in Kenya and watch it the way I can watch KTN etc?

I have a question. how does the CCTV Africa work? is a cable channel offered in the likes of zuku Dstv etc, or I can just turn on my t.v in Kenya and watch it the way I can watch KTN etc?

It's on satellite tv:

DSTV: 409

Zuku: 567

Star Times: 123