Investors are turning to more renewable energy sources
A local firm Kinangop Wind Park Ltd has announced plans to build a 60.8 megawatts (MW) wind power park in Kinangop Plateau in Nyandarua County.
The firm said on Monday that it will apply for a power generation licence from the sector regulator on December 5.
“The project consists of building a 60.8MW wind power park in Kinangop in order to supply additional power to the national grid,” the firm told reporters in a statement.
Kenya relies heavily on hydroelectric dams for power, and this usually leaves consumers with high electricity bills in times of drought after producers turn to more costly thermal power.
Local and international investors are turning to more renewable energy sources such as geothermal and wind in a bid to help stabilise electricity supplies.
Lake Turkana Wind Power (LTWP) – a German consortium – is putting up a Sh50 billion wind farm in Loiyangalani near Lake Turkana.
The consortium will use the latest wind turbine technology to inject 300MW in to the national grid when it reaches full generating capacity by end of 2013.
Kenya’s largest power producer Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen) is already generating over 5 MW from its wind power firm in Ngong Hills near Nairobi. The firm is also working on other projects that could see Kenya’s wind power capacity increase to 50MW within three years.
The government has set a target of 30,000MW generation by 2030, from the current capacity of 1,400 MW.
