Kenya’s promising wind power sector is attracting big firms set on exploiting the country’s huge potential.

The result of ongoing feasibility studies could pave way for multimillion dollar infrastructure spending in wind energy in the East African region.

Among the firms involved in the studies is General Electric, a leading global player in the energy infrastructure sector. The firm is evaluating proposals from developers, collecting data and formulating projects.

Wind energy constitutes about 20% of the 1699 Megawatts additional power that Kenya is working towards injecting into the national grid over the next five years.

The Lake Turkana Wind Power Project is the largest of the three wind power plants that are expected to come online in the next two years, to produce 365 Megawatts of electricity. The other projects are a 15-megawatt plant by the Kenya Electricity Generating Company and a 50-megawatt plant by Aeolus.

According to the Lake Turkana Wind Power Project officials, the amount of energy that can be generated from one turbine is double what can be produced from a similar turbine in Europe.

Source: EastAfrican