The desert land around the beautiful Lake Turkana in Kenya, the scene of an award winning film [1] (see The Constant Gardener SiS 30) is set to become the site of Africa’s largest windfarm by 2012. This ambitious project aims to end Africa’s electrical blackouts and tackle global warming simultaneously [2]. The Lake Turkana Wind Project (LTWP) has received funds of 300 million euros from the African Development Bank, 70 percent of the total cost, the remainder will come from private Dutch and Kenyan investors. The project will produce 310 megawatts (MW) of power going directly to the national grid. It is hoped that this will meet the surging demand for energy though renewable resources. The African Development Bank is a treaty signed in 1963 [3] which focuses on regional development and is active in 78 countries throughout the Continent. Its aims are to: · Make loans and equity investments for the social and economic advancement of regional member countries · Provide technical assistance for the preparation and execution of development projects and programs · Promote investments of public and private capital for developing purposes · Assist in co-ordinating national and multinational projects and programs that promote regional integration. The LTWP consists of 365 wind turbines at a height of 30-40 metres each with a capacity of 850 kilowatts (KW). This will add approximately 25 percent to Kenya’s existing electricity capacity, which is projected to produce 1 440 Gigawatt hours (GWh) of power per year, enough to light up around 2 million Kenyan households [4]. Currently, less that one in five Kenyan has access to electricity and almost three quarters of its major power supplier’s KenGen’s electricity comes from hydropower. Some 11 percent of this energy is powered by geothermal plants that absorb heat and steam from rocks deep below the Rift Valley. But low rainfall in the country has boosted the short term reliance on fossil fuels such as coal. However, as only 10 percent of Kenya’s total energy comes from electricity (see Table 1), this project is a significant step towards Kenya’s 2030 Vision of Development and Least Cost Power Development Plan (2009-2029). Africa going for the wind Kenya is not the only African country harnessing energy from the wind. The Tigray region of neighbouring Ethiopia, which has already produced remarkable crop yields from compost [5] (see The Tigray Project, SiS 23), has recently commissioned a £190 million 120 MW wind farm. This will represent 15 percent of Ethiopia’s current electrical capacity and more windfarms are planned. In Tanzania, 100 MW of power will be produced from two projects in the Central Singida region, which account for more than 10 percent of the current supply. Earlier this year, South Africa became the first African country to announce a feed in tariff for wind power, which means that customers generating electricity receive a financial remuneration for selling power to the national grid. Two further wind projects are underway in Kenya. One is in the popular tourist town Naivasha and one is in the Ngong Hills near Nairobi where Danish wind company Vestas have already installed six 50-metre V52 turbines contributing 5.1 megawatts to the national grid. It is believed that 365 V52 turbines will be used in the LTWP. The Turkana Channel Jet Stream The LTWP will be constructed at a rate of one turbine per day starting from July 2011 to be completed by July 2012. The wind park will take advantage of the low level jet stream called the Turkana Channel Jet that blows all year round and is at full force during the night. The average monthly wind speed at the site, on the southeast side of Lake Turkana measures 11 metres per second (at a height of between 40 and 80 metres) one of the highest averages recorded globally. The windpark will cover 40m2 and turbines will span three ridges 70 metres apart between 450 metres at the lake shore and the bases of Mount Kulal (2 300 masl)) and the Mount Nyiru range (2 750 masl). This is a strategy to catch the SE winds blowing through the Rift Valley in between the East African and the Ethiopian Highlands. http://www.i-sis.org.uk/lakeTurkanaWindProject.php