Ongoing projects in Africa

Taking renewables further afield
The first signs of wider geographical development are at least emerging. In February, the government of Lesotho sanctioned the development of a wind farm by Power NET Developments, a joint venture set up by Powerdev Group of Lesotho and South African energy consultancy NET Group.

It is envisaged that 42 relatively low-capacity turbines would be erected, giving total generating capacity of 25-35 MW, with all output supplied to state owned Lesotho Electricity Company. The wind farm, which will be Lesotho’s first, is to be developed near the Letseng La Terai diamond mine in the Maluti-Drakensberg region.

In December, Aeolus Kenya announced that it would develop the 61 MW Kinangop wind power project in Kenya. Iberdrola will construct the scheme, while GE will provide the 38 1.6-MW turbines.

A spokesperson for Iberdrola Engineering revealed: “The Kinangop wind farm project strengthens our presence in Africa and particularly in Kenya, where the expansion in power capacity needs to be balanced with the reliability of the supply. GE’s 1.6-MW wind turbines are a great fit for Kenya’s robust wind conditions and for the advancements in serviceability and grid integration.” Such schemes require more rapid development of the country’s transmission and distribution infrastructure. The government of Kenya predicts that electricity demand will increase by an average of 12.8% a year over the period 2010–30, from 7.4 TWh in 2009 to 92 TWh in 2030. However, much will depend on the pace of electrification. At present, just 17% of the population has access to electricity.

As African Business was going to press, US geothermal energy specialist Ormat Technologies announced that it had completed the construction of Phase 3 of the Olkaria plant in Kenya, taking the facility’s generating capacity up to 110 MW.

The project, completed three months ahead of schedule, will supply electricity to Kenya Power and Lighting Company Limited (KPLC) under a 20-year power purchase agreement. The US Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) financed the project with a $310m debt facility.

Ormat chief executive Dita Bronicki commented: “Olkaria III is a prime example of our multi-stage approach to project development generating higher investment returns and reducing risk. In less than one year, we’ve completed construction of two additional plants and, over the course of five years, more than doubled the facility’s generating capacity. Kenya is an important market for our future growth due to its high geothermal potential and we are focusing our efforts on increasing our operation in Kenya.”