General Electric (GE) Africa is supplying turbines for installation at a 100-megawatt wind project being developed by Kipeto Energy in Kenya’s Kajiado County.
As the sole equipment supplier for the project located about 50 km from Nairobi, GE will deliver 60 of its GE1.7-103 model wind turbines to the Kipeto wind park. The $155-million supply contract also includes a 15-year service agreement.
The Kipeto project was announced during US president Barack Obama’s visit to Kenya. And it is expected to increase installed wind energy capacity of Kenya significantly.
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According to a statement, the project will be an unspecified but sizable addition to the portfolio of orders of GE Africa, which stands at $2.5 billion received over the past year.
Besides power generation, the company has received the new orders in transportation, oil and gas, healthcare and aviation from sub-Saharan Africa.
About 80 percent of the population of Kenya currently lacks access to electricity and the project is expected to improve the country’s status in power generation as well.
The shareholders of Kipeto Energy Limited include Africa Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM), Craftskills Wind Energy International Limited, International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Maasai community of Kipeto.
The project will be financed by Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) — the US government’s development finance institute which is part of the Power Africa Initiative — as sole lender to the project.
In June OPIC had committed to an investment warranty of $253 million in Lake Turkana Wind Power Project (LTWP), North Kenya.
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The 310 MW project will increase the installed capacity of wind plant by 20 percent and is expected to meet power requirements of more than 2.5 million people. It will also reduce annual expenditure on fuel import of Kenya by $177.4 million.
The project will also have 365 turbines of 850 kilowatts each and will cover 40,000 acres besides a sub-station and overhead electric grid collection unit.
In sum, LTWP is touted to be Kenya’s largest wind power project and the investment warranty is the largest quantum allocated till date for any clean energy power development program.
African Development Bank (AfDB) has also loaned $170 million for the same project.
OPIC is committed to provide $177.4 billion towards supporting wind power projects throughout sub-Saharan Africa over the next five years under Power Africa initiative program launched by the US president.
Ajith Kumar S