By George Mwangi
Special to DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
Kenya Power and a unit of General Electric Co. (GE) have agreed
to develop a 100 megawatt wind-energy project near Nairobi, the
Kenyan national power utility said in a statement on Tuesday.
The U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corporation, or OPIC, has
provided $233 million in financing for Kipeto Power Limited, which
is majority owned by GE.
"Financial support to Kipeto is a significant step in OPIC's
pledge to President Barack Obama's Power Africa Initiative," OPIC
President and Chief Executive Elizabeth Littlefield said.
Kipeto will construct, own, operate and maintain the wind
project at Oldonyo Narok, in Kajiado county. The power produced by
the wind farm will be sold to Kenya Power under a 20-year power
purchase agreement, according to the government.
Construction will begin in November and should take 18 to 24
months to complete, according to Joseph Njoroge, principal
secretary for energy and petroleum.
Kenya wants to add another 5,000 megawatts in generation
capacity to its national grid, according to Henry Rotich, Kenya's
acting cabinet secretary for energy and petroleum.
Only 32% of the Kenyan population is connected to the grid, and
high electricity bills and unreliable supply have scared away
investors, according to the government.
Kenya Power has 2,211 megawatts of installed capacity, of which
37.6% is hydro power, 27.3% geothermal and 32.9% fossil thermal
capacity.
Geothermal provided 46.4% of the 780.98 gegawatts hour
generation in June 2015 while hydro and thermal contributed 38.1%
and 14.8%, respectively, the statement said.
Wind energy currently stands at a negligible 0.4% in the
country's energy mix but this will significantly change in the
coming years with the introduction of wind energy from Kipeto, as
well as the 300 MW Lake Turkana wind power project, the statement
said.
-Write to George Mwangi at realtimedesklondon@dowjones.com