- The Kenya Electricity Generating Company has secured approval for the construction of 42.5MW Seven Forks Solar PV project.
- The project, which is expected to start early next year, will compliment hydro power during the day when the sun’s intensity will be high, especially during the dry seasons.
Kengen managing director and chief executive officer Eng Peter Njenga said they are ready for the construction as they finalise the initial project preparation works. “With the solar project, we can conserve water for power generation mostly at night,” Njenga said.
Currently, the large hydropower dams in the Seven Forks have reached full supply capacity and now hold a combined volume of more than 2.6 billion cubic metres against a total flow from River Tana estimated at five billion cubic metres.
“Our Seven Forks dams hold the bulk of the water flowing from River Tana, way more than half the volume, which would be flooding areas downstream of the dams thereby reducing the damage caused by the ongoing rains,” he said.
Image credit: KenGen
KenGen PLC has an installed generation capacity of 1,904MW, of which over 86% is drawn from green sources namely: Hydro (826MW), Geothermal (799MW), Wind (25.5MW). The balance is from Thermal.
Kenya also host to Lake Turkana (310MW) and Kipeto (100MW) wind farms with are owned and operated by independent power producers.
Author: Bryan Groenendaal
7 Comments
Is this going to be floating PV on the dam lakes ?
Wind, solar and hydro can work very well together, complement each other, as hydro can be stored to a certain extent. See Portugal lately.
Article mentions Kengen wind at a mere 25 MW, but Kenya as a whole has far more.
Only the LTWP, Lake Turkana Wind Project has a max capacity of 310 MW, and an EAF of 64% , averaging about 200 MW. Africa’s largest working wind farm at the moment AFAIK.
Check Wiki.
The project is a ground mount solar pv project.
Lake Turkana (310MW) and Kipeto (100MW) wind farms are not owned and operated by KenGen.
Is this going to be floating solar on the lakes ? Or more standard land based PV solar farms ?
Wind power in Kenya should be more than 25 MW, as only the Lake Turkana Wind Project has a max capacity of 310 MW, and with a 64% EAF, or capacity factor an average output of 200 MW.
This project is a ground mount solar pv project.
Lake Turkana (310MW) and Kipeto (100MW) wind farms are not owned and operated by KenGen.
That will be funded by GoK? or international fund?