The funds will be channeled towards the Kipeto Wind Power Project which is going to be developed on a 70 kilometer square piece of land South-west of Nairobi. The project will be in the Esilanke area currently being utilized for agricultural purposes. 100MW of electricity is expected to be generated from the plant. Kipeto will then sell this power to Kenya Power and Lighting Company at a feed-in tariff of US$ 12 cents/KWh under a 20-year PPA.

 

The implementer of the project is Kipeto Energy Limited (KEL), initially founded by Kenya-based Craftskills Wind Energy International Limited. KEL is majority-owned by US-based General Electric (GE) with the World Bank Group’s investment arm IFC and a community trust as its other shareholders.

 

KEL is part of the nation’s vision 2030 where the government aims at adding 5000MW to the national grid. General Electric will provide the wind turbines needed for this project. The total cost of the project has been set at US$ 316m. General Electric will construct a new on-site substation and a 66 kV line to transmit the generated electricity to the national power grid.

 

Kipeto wind power project will give birth to the second-largest wind power plant in Kenya after the 300MW Lake Turkana Wind Power plant to be based in Marsabit – touted as one of the largest wind power plants in Africa.

Source : www.constructionreviewonline.com