The Lake Turkana wind farm – Africa’s largest at 310MW – has exported its first power to Kenya’s grid after failure to complete its transmission line delayed it by more than a year.

“We are now supplying the national grid with clean, reliable and low-cost energy,” said project company Lake Turkana Wind Power (LTWP), which originally hoped to begin flowing electricity as long ago as June 2017.

Danish wind group Vestas – which built the wind farm and supplied its 365, 850kW V52 turbines – completed its part ahead of schedule in March 2017. But the project was left marooned when state-owned TSO Ketraco’s efforts to complete its transmission link were stalled by financial difficulties at its original contractor and disputes with landowners along its 428km route.

The 400kV transmission line was finally completed in early September. After keeping the turbines serviced during the hiatus Vestas technicians have started a phased process of energising the machines, with an initial 15 operating by Monday.

Vestas’ president for northern and central Europe Nils de Baar, who oversees the project for the OEM, said: “We have started commissioning the turbines at Lake Turkana where our construction and service team has done a tremendous job at not only installing 365 turbines in record time, but also ensuring they were ready for commissioning when the T-line was finalised.

“That Lake Turkana is coming online is a strong signal on renewable energy in the region and we want to thank everyone involved in the project.”

LTWP has not set a date for full operation at Lake Turkana, which will supply one million homes and electrify many off-grid rural areas for the first time, boosting Kenya’s total installed capacity by about 15%. The wind farm will sell its electricity to Kenya Power & Lighting under a 20-year PPA.

LTWP is owned by a consortium that includes KP&P Africa, Aldwych International and Vestas, among others. Vestas announced in 2015 that web giant Google will buy its 12.5% stake in Lake Turkana once it is fully operational.

Wind

Delayed Lake Turkana flows first power to Kenyan grid