Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen) is set to develop wind power farm in Meru County that will see an additional 400MW into the national electricity grid. This project comes just a day after President Uhuru Kenyatta commissioned the 300MW Lake Turkana Wind Power Project said to be the largest in Africa.
KenGen’s latest project will add to its renewable energy sources projects that it has invested in to generate electricity for the country.
KenGen is also looking to improve its share percentage of hydro-power that has gone down from 63 percent last year to 41percent this year. The decline can be attributed to dry weather and low water levels in their dams.
The first phase of the projected is expected to be complete by December 2017 at a cost of KSH26.4 Billion (USD270 million) and generate 100MW.
France’s Development Agency and Germany’s Development Bank, the main financiers of the project are expected to release the fund upon conducting due diligence on the project.
According to company officials, KenGen is investing in cheaper sources of energy to reduce the more expensive diesel generated power from the grid in attempts to lower the cost of power in the country.
The Wind power farm in Meru will supplement the geothermal power generated by KenGen and the 25MW wind farm in Ngong Hills.
Injection of this low-cost renewable energy into the national grid will reduce power cost directly reducing the cost of production and boosting development in Kenya. Kenya’s status in the world is quickly and steadily improving as it has now joined the middle-class income economies of the world.
