Kenya has officially launched the Kipeto Wind Power farm, a project funded by Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) – the US government’s development finance institution, and Actis.
Meanwhile, the African Trade Insurance Agency (ATI), the Pan-African trade and investment insurer, said it has reached a deal to provide a 10-year standby revolving and on-demand insurance cover for the wind power project to be put up at the base of Ngong Hills in Kajiado.
The emergency facility will cushion the project from short-term cash flow challenges arising from payment defaults for a maximum of six months by the near-monopoly Kenya Power for electricity supplied to the national grid. In 2015, Kenya power signed a 20-year power purchase agreement with the 100MW Kipeto wind farm.
The project is located towards the southwestern part of Nairobi, in Ngong, on an area of land measuring approximately 70 square kilometres area. The energy generated from the Kipeto wind farm will be sold exclusively to the national off-taker, Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC), under the 20-year power purchase agreement.
“OPIC is proud to support the construction and operation of the Kipeto wind farm, which will add reliable energy to Kenya’s national grid,” said OPIC President and Chief Executive Officer Ray W. Washburne.
The project is the second largest in the country after the Lake Turkana Wind Power Project. The Government of Kenya plans to achieve universal electricity access by 2020.
Source: Construction Review
