Africa Moves towards a Green Future.

Africa is the poorest continent on our planet. In a recent analysis and assessment, it was concluded that the most efficient way of moving Africa from being a collection of developing countries to a coherent and vibrant set of strong economies was by the use of renewable energy and not fossil fuels.  The latter would actually take longer and make African states tread the well-worn polluting path that many other European and American countries trod in the last half of the twentieth century.

Vestas have won a firm and unconditional contract to supply turbines to what will be Africa’s largest wind farm and  move the continent one step further away from energy poverty. Vestas won an order for 365 of their V52-850 kW turbines for the 310 MW Lake Turkana Wind Power project in Kenya. The order is the largest number of wind turbines ever ordered from Vestas for a single wind farm/project. The wind power plant will save Kenya approximately EUR 150m in fuel imports every year. As expected the order will comprise the supply installation and commissioning of the turbines, plus a Vestas 15 year “Active Output Management” service agreement. The turbines should begin to turn by the end of 2017.

Vestas V52 850 kW turbine 300x2001 Africa Moves towards a Green Future.
Vestas V52-850 kW turbine

The shores of Lake Turkana are an ideal place for a mega-sized wind farm- the area’s average wind speed is 11 metres per second.  It is at an elevation of 450m and the surrounding area has strong and predictable winds. It is also very sparsely populated, making it an ideal location for what will be Africa’s largest wind farm.

Once completed the wind farm will produce a staggering 1400GW per hour. This represents 15% of the country’s current electricity consumption. Taking the power generated to grid connection and distribution is also a major project. Lake Turkana is located approximately 1,200 km from the Kenyan port of Mombasa and will require the building more than 420 km of transmission lines to reach Kenya’s national electricity grid.

Lake Turkana. jpg 300x2061 Africa Moves towards a Green Future.
Lake Turkana

Vestas is not new to the supply of turbines to African countries. It has supplied them to Cape Verde, Egypt, Morocco and South Africa.  Vestas holds a leading position in South Africa with more than 140 MW already installed. Vestas also installed 14 V52-850 kW turbines in Kenya in five years ago.