Jamii Bora Bank chairman James Mwangi Gacheru says financing for the wind power farm is being finalised. PHOTO | FILE
What you need to know:
Chagem Power Ltd will build a plant on a 40-hectare site in Loradiak, 10 kilometres from Kona Baridi off Magadi Road, the second such facility planned for Kajiado.
The 50MW plant will be financed by China Exim Bank, which is also lending electricity distributor Kenya Power Sh9 billion.
The power will be generated by 34 GE turbines.
Local firm Chagem Power Ltd plans to put up a Sh4.8 billion 50 megawatt (MW) wind farm in Kajiado County, bringing the wind power in the pipeline to over 500 megawatts.
The firm will build a plant on a 40-hectare site in Loradiak, 10 kilometres from Kona Baridi off Magadi Road, the second such facility planned for Kajiado.
Jamii Bora Bank chairman James Mwangi Gacheru, one of the partners in the project, said the plant will be financed by China Exim Bank, which is also lending electricity distributor Kenya Power Sh9 billion. It is on top the main financier of the Standard Gauge Railway.
Mr Gacheru said the financing is being finalised and a report on the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) is set to be submitted to the Energy ministry for approval, paving the way for the plant’s construction.
“Construction will begin once we agree on the PPA. The money is available,” Mr Mwangi told the Business Daily.
GEM-CM Construction Ltd chief executive Martin Kinoti Kinyua is the other partner in the Chagem Power project. The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report says a 10 kilometre access road will be upgraded, an office block and a two-kilometre line constructed.
The power will be generated by 34 GE turbines. The EIA report says part of the fringe benefit of the project will be opening up of the area through upgrading of the road.
Kajiado County is also hosting Kipeto wind farm expected to add 100MW to the national in 2017. Construction of the Sh27 billion plant is expected to begin by next March.
The county is home to KenGen’s 25.5MW wind farm located in Ngong Hills. It cost Sh4.5 billion.
The listed utility provider plans to invest more funds in wind and geothermal energy with proceeds from the Sh15 billion rights issue expected to take place early next year.
KenGen plans to put up another 100MW wind plant in Meru County at Sh29.9 billion. The county will as well host a 40MW plant to be developed by Bluesea, a private company.
Kinangop Wind Park by Aeolus Kenya will add 60.8 megawatts to the national grid. TransCentury is putting up a Sh11.7 billion 50MW wind power plant in Limuru, Kiambu County.
The infrastructure and power firm said it expects to put up more wind plants.
Clean energy sources
“The potential for wind energy generation in Kenya is significant and we shall be using the Limuru Wind farm project as a pilot programme to fine-tune our delivery capacity,” said TransCentury chief executive Gachao Kiuna at last month’s launch.
Lake Turkana Wind Project is the biggest power farm though. The Sh70 billion project is expected to produce 310MW when complete in 2017.
The Energy ministry says that Marsabit, Kajiado, Laikipia, Meru, Nyandarua, Kilifi, Lamu, Isiolo, Turkana, Samburu, Uasin Gishu, Narok and Kiambu are the counties best suited to host wind farms.
The government plans to have an additional 5,000MW in the national grid with preference for renewable and clean energy sources.
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