Construction has commenced on the €625m Lake Turkana wind power (LTWP) project in Kenya.
British engineering consultancy Mott MacDonald is serving as technical advisor on the 310MW project.
Located on the south eastern shore of Lake Turkana in northern Kenya, the wind farm will feature 365 Vestas V52-850kW turbine units, the related overhead electric grid collection system and a substation.
The 450km transmission line being built by Kenyan national grid firm Ketraco will connect the outskirts of Nairobi to Loyangalani near the project site, which covers 40,000 acres.
Mott MacDonald project manager Matthias Vinard said: "Once operational, LTWP will provide approximately 15% of total power generation in Kenya, equivalent to approximately 330,000 households."
Kenya Power will purchase the electricity generated from the project under a 20-year power purchase agreement.
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By GlobalDataMott MacDonald is also providing construction and operations monitoring of the wind farm and environment as well as social monitoring for the transmission line.
The consultancy had earlier undertook technical, environmental and social due diligence during the financing stage of the project.
The project proponent is the LTWP consortium comprising KP&P Africa and Aldwych International as co-developers, Industrial Fund for Developing Countries, Wind Power (Vestas), Finnish Fund for Industrial Cooperation, and Norwegian Investment Fund for Developing Countries.
LTWP is solely responsible for the financing, construction and operation of the wind farm.
Aldwych will oversee the construction and operations of the power plant on behalf of LTWP.
