WorleyParsons was awarded a contract in Q4 2014 to provide Project Management services to Lake Turkana Wind Power’s wind farm project in Kenya. The company has since deployed management teams on site in the Loyangalani District, Marsabit West County, in the Turkana region.

The Kenyan wind power project will be installed with 365 wind turbines where each a capacity of 850kW. The African Development Bank (AfDB) approved the project’s transmission line partial risk guarantee for $27.2 million making it the first of the African Development Fund’s partial risk guarantees (ADF PRG). It is estimated that the average electricity production of the wind project will be  1,440 GWh a year.

The project is expected to take 32-months, and will be established as the biggest wind farm of its kind in sub-Saharan Africa, representing one of the East African country’s largest private investment.

The wind power project is expected to generate 300MW of reliable and affordable wind power to Kenya’s national electricity grid, the equivalent to about 20% of the country’s current installed electricity generating capacity, WorleyParsons said in a company statement.

According to a jointly published report released this month ‘A Clean Energy Vision for East Africa: Planning for Sustainability, Reducing Climate Risks and Increasing Energy Access (2015)’, Wind power projects such as Lake Turkana fall within the recommendations for the East African Power Pool (EAPP) to move away from large hydropower due to rapid increase in climate change.

The South African-based engineering contractor firm has also completed the 80MW Jasper solar photovoltaic (PV) power project in Kimberley Northern Cape, for developer Solar Reserve in December 2014. They are the first engineering contractor firm in sub-Saharan Africa to take the ownership role on concentrated solar power (CSP) projects in South Africa.

Abengoa’s KaXu Solar One 100MW CSP plant located about 60km outside of Pofadder in the Northern Cape

According to the South African firm, they extended their engineering services to Abengoa’s KaXu Solar One 100MW CSP plant located about 60km outside of Pofadder in the Northern Cape. The CSP plant was successfully handed over to the project’s operations and maintenance team nine days ahead of schedule.

WorleyParsons is focused on local content and capacity building within the communities in which they work. By transferring knowledge and skills to members of the community, these members become key contributors to making projects a success.

Mai Linh