Kenya - Vestas could deliver 310 MW of wind turbines

Vestas wind energy order a boost for Lake Turkana wind farm. The wind farm will consist of 365 Vestas V52 wind turbines, each with a capacity of 850 kW.

Wind turbine supplier Vestas has confirmed that it and Lake Turkana Wind Power have signed a conditional order agreement. Since a key indicator of the viability of a wind power project is the willingness of a supplier to make such a commitment, it is a further indication that construction of the 310 MW wind farm in Kenya could go ahead soon.

According to Carlo van Wageningen who chairs the consortium developing the Lake Turkana wind turbines project, financial due diligence is expected to be completed by April this year.

The wind power project, which entails building the large wind farm within Loiyangalani, a remote region in north-western Kenya near the Lake Turkana basin, could begin generating electricity after 2013. The wind farm will consist of 365 Vestas V52 wind turbines, each with a capacity of 850 kW.

The wind energy project is unusual in that its remoteness entails the construction of several hundreds of kilometres of transmission line, and to justify the investment in that infrastructure it entails the building of a very large wind farm. However, the site chosen will provide the wind farm with an exceptionally high capacity factor in wind power terms (an availability of 66% is possible) with output from the 310 MW wind farm rarely expected to drop below 170 MW. The wind energy project is anticipated to be 46% cheaper than the current average power mix cost in Kenya.

Wind Energy Profile:
With the industry's largest global market share and most advanced technologies, Vestas is the world's leading supplier of wind energy solutions. Vestas' core business is the development, manufacture, sales, marketing and maintenance of wind turbines that use the power of the wind to generate electricity.

Vestas is at the forefront of wind energy innovation and technology. We have been harnessing the power of the wind for more than 30 years. In 2008, we opened the largest R&D centre in the wind energy industry, which now employs over 800 engineers and technicians. Our focus on research and innovation has led to us developing turbines that are now 100 times more efficient than they were 25 years ago. As a result, the more than 43,000 Vestas turbines around the world produce enough energy to supply millions of households.

We have global expertise along the entire value chain, from product development and technology, to measuring wind and placing wind turbines in the best possible location, project management, grid integration, performance monitoring and analysis.

Vestas employs more than 20,000 people worldwide and has installed wind turbines in 66 countries on six continents. The head office of Vestas Central Europe is located in Husum and is responsible for the sales and marketing of Vestas wind power systems in Germany, Benelux. Austria, Russia, Eastern Europe and Southern and Eastern Africa.