About 70% of the nation’s electricity comes from renewable sources – more than three times the global average
Kenya recently unveiled Africa’s largest wind power plant, a project aimed at reducing electricity costs and dependence on fossil fuels and moving the nation to meet its ambitious goal of 100% green energy next year.
The sprawling wind farm of 365 turbines on the shores of Lake Turkana in northern Kenya was designed to boost the nation’s electricity supply by 13 percent, giving more Kenyans access at a lower cost, President Uhuru Kenyatta said at its launch.
President Uhuru Kenyatta commissioned the Lake Turkana Wind Power (LTWP) plant in Marsabit County, the largest wind farm in the continent.
The plant, boasting of 365 wind turbines with a capacity of 850 kilovolts each, will deliver 310 megawatts of clean energy to the national grid.
The $680 million project was launched at a ceremony attended by Deputy President William Ruto, Energy Cabinet Secretary Charles Keter, foreign diplomats and other high ranking government officials.
LTWP project board Chairman Mugo Kibati said the project undertaken though public-private partnership will have wide-raging benefits for the country.
Kenya Electricity Transmission Company (KETRACO) indicated the country will save Sh1 billion annually in fuel imports used to generate electricity.
To evacuate power from the Loiyangalani sub-station to Suswa, in Narok County, KETRACO set up a 438km long transmission line.
It traverses through five counties which will now be connected to the national grid.
Kibati said high economic growth is expected to be witnessed along the areas the transmission line passes through.
“We will have viable projects that were not viable before,” he asserted.