Google cancelled plans to buy a stake in Africa’s largest wind farm after delays in the project, Danish wind turbine maker said.
“Due to delays relating primarily to the transmission line, the Vestas agreement with Google was cancelled in 2019,” a Vestas spokesman told Reuters.
Google had plans to buy a 12.5% stake of the 310MW Lake Turkana Wind Power project that was initially set for completion in 2017. It started operation last year and that led to the cancellation of the deal. Vestas said that they are in talks with other potential buyers of the stake.
This project is a $694 million investment that pools investors like KP&P Africa B.B, Aldwych International, Investment Fund for Developing Countries, Vestas Eastern Africa Limited, Finish Fund for Industrial Cooperation Ltd, KLP Norfund Investments AS and Sandpiper.
The Lake Turkana Wind Power project is a pretty big deal. It is located in Loiyangalani District in Marsabit County on 40,000 acres. It consists of 365 wind turbines that generate 850kW each.
The project generates approximately 17% of the country’s installed capacity which will be bought at a fixed price by Kenya Power over a 20 year period.
This project is one of Kenya’s ambitious energy projects that are aimed to add more megawatts to the grid. As of October 2019, wind power generates only 11.88% of the total capacity. Hydro and Geothermal are still the leaders with a combined 58.7% of the total. The Lake Turkana Wind Power project is part of an ambitious plan of reaching 100% green energy by 2020 and we have to wait and see if such projects will replace the use of fossil fuels for electricity generation.
