Wind turbines blowing life into rural Kenya

A newly installed wind cruiser in a home on the outskirts of Nairobi. Jeff Odera smiles contentedly as he gazes at his newly installed wind generator at his home on the outskirts of Kenya’s capital city, Nairobi. “I am pleased to have access to a reliable personal power and I feel highly relieved from worrying about costly electricity and kerosene bills,” he says. Odera, who does not have access to grid electricity, bought the wind generator dubbed the ‘wind cruiser’ from a Nairobi-based firm known as Craftskills Enterprises at 590 US Dollars. He says the machine produces enough energy to provide lighting to his homestead and power household electric appliances.

Craftskills Enterprises started working on wind power machines in 2001 and so far has been able to manufacture wind generators and their accessories, which are sold all over the country. The firm, whose products have been patented by the Kenya Industrial Property Institute (KIPI), was started by two Nairobi residents, Philip Osula and Simon Mwacharo. After realizing the burgeoning demand for alternative sources of energy more so the renewable ones, the two computer engineers sought out to design affordable wind energy generators. Electricity is inaccessible to the majority of Kenyans, both in rural and urban areas. The rural electrification programme, whose implementation rests on the shoulders of Kenya Electricity Generation Company, KENGEN, and the Kenya Power and Lighting Company, KPLC, two state corporations charged with power generation and distribution respectively, has not succeeded.

This in itself has made wind generators from Craftskills Enterprises find a ready market in all parts of the country. “Customers come knocking, and therefore we do not undertake any major marketing campaign,” says Osula, the Craftskills co-founder, who is also responsible for marketing the wind cruisers. The firm has a workshop in Kibera Suburb, South-West of Nairobi. It has employed six artisans on a full-time basis and has also entered into partnership with reputable engineering and marketing organizations for consultancy services in the sphere of research and development.