KENYA: Clir Renewables to Optimise Production at Lake Turkana Wind Farm

Posted on : Monday , 8th February 2021

Clir Renewables, a provider of software solutions for clean energy generation facilities, signs an agreement with Lake Turkana Wind Power. The purpose of this partnership is to improve the operation of the 310.25 MW Lake Turkana wind farm.

Optimising the production of the Lake Turkana wind farm. This is the purpose of the partnership that now links its owner Lake Turkana Wind Power and Clir Renewables. This technology solutions provider based in Vancouver, Canada and has committed to improving the performance monitoring of the wind farm connected to Kenya's national electricity grid since October 2018.

The company will analyse data from each of the 365 turbines on Lake Turkana. The objective is to monitor fluctuations in wind speed and thus identify cases of under performance and their causes. The data collected will be transmitted to Lake Turkana Wind Power, which will use it to increase its annual electricity production. "We are committed to ensuring that this project exceeds our expectations. With Clir, our team of local technicians will be supported by the latest numerical tools and analysis to aim operations and maintenance and reduce unnecessary turbine downtime," explains Wellington Otieno, Lake Turkana Wind Power's Technical Director.

For the record, , Lake Turkana Wind Power, the holding company that operates the Lake Turkana wind farm is owned by several shareholders including KP& P BV Africa, Norfund, IFU-Danish Development Bank, Aldwych International, FinnFund, Other Equity Partners, Wind Power A.S. (Vestas). Recently, Vestas failed to sell its shares (12.5%) to Google for 40 million dollars.

The Lake Turkana wind farm is the largest in sub Saharan Africa with a capacity of around 310.25 MW. The 365 wind turbines that produce this electricity are spread over an area of 160 km2 in Loiyangalani district, Marsabit County, about 545 km by road north of Nairobi, the Kenyan capital. The wind farm is covered by a 20-year Power Purchase Agreement between Lake Turkana Wind Power and Kenya Power Corporation.