Kenya, East Africa largest economy has launched Africa’s biggest wind power plant, a project aimed at reducing electricity costs and dependence on fossil fuels, nudging the nation to meet an ambitious goal of 100 percent green energy next year.
The sprawling wind farm of 365 turbines on the shores of Lake Turkana in northern Kenya was designed to boost electricity supply by 13 percent, giving more Kenyans access at a lower cost, President Uhuru Kenyatta said at its launch last Friday, according to an Aljazeera report.
In Nigeria however, Research and Development (R & D) tailored towards Wind Energy Technology (WET) have been few, slow and not encouraging. The available data have not also been adequately employed to develop physical models that would translate the huge resources of wind to power.
Until recently, what was available was small data system pointing to the availability of wind as a source of potential electricity production within the nation. Basic researches into the act of tapping wind for electricity have been non-existent within the country. This is because, such practices involve funding and such funds have not been available anywhere for access by wind energy researchers.
More so, research tailored towards development of low cost materials for wind turbines and other renewable energy technology applications should begin. This will invariably eliminate the huge initial capital involved in starting Wind energy business and also further reduce the operating and management cost of the technology.
But East Africa’s most industrialised country has made great strides in renewable energy in recent years and is considered one of the few African nations making progress toward clean power.
About 70 percent of the nation’s electricity comes from renewable sources such as hydropower and geothermal – more than three times the global average.
“Today, we again raised the bar for the continent as we unveil Africa’s single largest wind farm,” Kenyatta said.
But one in four Kenyans – mostly in rural areas – does not have access to electricity. Those with power face high costs and frequent blackouts due to unreliable supply.
Nigeria’s electricity access story is not better than Kenya’s. About 80 million Nigerians living in 8000 villages across the country lack access to electricity, a World Bank report had stated.
Mac Cosgrove-Davies, the World Bank Global Lead, Energy Access, had said this during the opening ceremony of the “Fourth Mini Grid Action Learning Event: titled, ‘Up scaling Mini Grids for Low-Cost and Timely Access to Electricity in Abuja last month.
“Kenya is without doubt on course to be a global leader in renewable energy.”
Kenyatta, who has announced plans to move the country to 100 percent green energy by 2020, said power from the $775 million wind farm would help the government reach its goals of ensuring housing, healthcare, jobs and food security to all citizens.
“Today marks an important milestone in the country’s steady march towards achieving self-sufficiency in power production,” said Mugo Kibati, chairman of the Lake Turkana Wind Power, a private consortium that runs the plant at the launch.
