Giston Energy gets nod to set up wind farm in northern Kenya

Giston Energy on the other hand said its wind turbine supplier – whom it did not name—has confirmed the willingness to start shipping the turbines in early 2011.“Our wind turbine supplier will construct the wind park on turn-key.

This will eliminate delays and enhance quality since these teams have a proven track record,” said Mr Thairu.

A turn-key or a turn-key project is a type of project that is constructed by a developer and sold or turned over to a buyer in a ready-to-use condition.

The company said it expects to sign a carbon credits financing deal with a major international bank soon.

Funding for the wind farm is planned to come from export credit agencies.

The growing interest of investments in renewable energy is attributed to the introduction of an electricity feed-in tariff policy in Kenya, according to Unep executive director Achim Steiner.

Unep said the policy encourages use of geothermal, wind and biomass as renewable power generation sources.

The electricity is later sold to form part of the national grid.

Under the initiative, power generators from mini-hydro projects receive up to 12 US cents per kilowatt hour produced, nine US cents for biomass and nine US cents for wind power.

“Policy mechanisms designed to encourage adoption of renewable energy sources triggered interest in establishing Africa’s largest wind farm in Turkana.”