Kenya Building Africa's Largest Wind Farm

July 29th, 2009 by Ariel Schwartz

Solar power seems to be the most logical renewable choice in Africa, but that hasn’t stopped the African Development Bank from initiating the Lake Turkana Wind Power project (LTWP)–a $755 million, 66,000 hectare project on the edge of the world’s biggest permanent desert lake. The site is ideal for wind power, as volcanic soil is swept up into the air year round through the channel.

When finished in 2012, LTWP’s 365 turbines will produce 300MW, or a quarter of Kenya’s installed electrical capacity. But it’s far from the only wind project in the works–KenGen, a Kenya state power company, runs a 5.1MW site full of Vestas wind turbines near Nairobi, and the company is scouring 14 other sites across the country for wind power potential.

Increased renewable energy production is a smart move for Kenya, since destruction of water catchment areas and unpredictable rainfall have disrupted the country’s massive hydroelectricity output. Add that to the fact that demand is rapidly rising, and a wind power buffer seems essential. Rest assured that the government knows it: in the next five years, Kenya plans on installing 800MW of wind power and 500MW of geothermal power.

Via UK Guardian

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Tags: Africa, Kenya

About the Author

Ariel Schwartz was formerly the editor of CleanTechnica and is a senior editor at Co.Exist. She has contributed to SF Weekly, Popular Science, Inhabitat, Greenbiz, NBC Bay Area, GOOD Magazine, and more. A graduate of Vassar College, she has previously worked in publishing, organic farming, documentary film, and newspaper journalism. Her interests include permaculture, hiking, skiing, music, relocalization, and cob (the building material). She currently resides in San Francisco, CA.

MD

In Kenya they also use rooftop water heaters aka thermo-syphon water heaters, a friend of mine lives there and has described the system to me, its dead simple, actually a “forgotten” technology here in the USA that was prevalent in the early 1900’s…
MD

In Kenya they also use rooftop water heaters aka thermo-syphon water heaters, a friend of mine lives there and has described the system to me, its dead simple, actually a “forgotten” technology here in the USA that was prevalent in the early 1900’s…
http://www.rayatngo.blogspot.com Rayat Seva Bhavi

The societal transformation has to be through large-scale development in education, healthcare, agriculture and governance. These in turn will lead to employment generation, high productivity and rural prosperity.

Rayat ngo
http://www.rayatngo.blogspot.com Rayat Seva Bhavi

The societal transformation has to be through large-scale development in education, healthcare, agriculture and governance. These in turn will lead to employment generation, high productivity and rural prosperity.

Rayat ngo
http://www.rayatngo.blogspot.com Rayat Seva Bhavi

The societal transformation has to be through large-scale development in education, healthcare, agriculture and governance. These in turn will lead to employment generation, high productivity and rural prosperity.

Rayat ngo