Uhuru to commission Lake Turkana Wind Power Station

Kenyans will enjoy cheaper power with the commissioning of the 310 megawatt (MW) Lake Turkana Wind Power Station in Loiyangalani, Marsabit, County.

Fernandes Barasa, Managing Director (MD) of the Kenya Electricity Transmission Company (Ketraco), said the commissioning next Tuesday will be by President Uhuru Kenyatta.

CLEAN, CHEAP

This step comes as the construction of the 428-kilometre high voltage power transmission line from Marsabit to Suswa sub-station was completed in November.

“Kenyans will now consumer more clean and cheap energy and less thermal generated power that is expensive," Mr Barasa said in an interview on Citizen TV on Wednesday night.

"Wind power costs Sh8 per Kwh compared to thermal power which costs Sh15 per Kwh. The completion of this project, together with the 55MW we are expecting from the Garissa solar power plant, means we will be running on less diesel, even as the fuel charge goes up because of the new value added tax."

The MD said the evacuation of 200 MW of energy to the national grid, via the Suswa sub-station, has begun.

GREEN ENERGY

Mr Barasa further noted that the commissioning of the project, the biggest in Africa, will go a long way in the realisation of President Kenyatta’s goal of seeing Kenya fully utilising green energy by 2022.

The Sh28 billion project was financed by Kenya (75 percent) and Spain (25).

The construction of the power line began in November 2015 but was delayed for reasons including including legal issues and insecurity, that saw taxpayers pay Sh5.7 billion more.

Kenya, which has more than 6.5 million customers connected to the power grid, has a generation capacity of 2,351 MW and a peak demand of 1,802 MW.