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Benjamin Sigei

Lake Turkana Wind Power (LTWP) has contracted Clir Renewables to enhance wind farm performance and tracking at its 310MW Loiyangalani farm.

The deal is meant to support the Kenya meet its growing demand for electricity while bringing down both national emissions and electricity costs.

Loiyangalani, Marsabit County is considered a region with consistently strong wind, however the wind is unidirectional, and Clir Resrach is set to leverage technology to boost consistency, and high yield returns.

Chief Technical Officer at LTWP  Wellington Otieno said Clir Research would support local technicians with current analytics tools to deepen maintenance and reduce asset downtime.

“Clir is to provide a complete understanding of our process to allow us  evaluate performances and access  targets to mitigate against risks,” he said.

The research firm will tap data from the 365 turbines at the wind farm and through its machine learning-driven analysis identify causes of low performance, giving LTWP hints on how to spur production and cushion against technical financial risks.

Each turbine has a capacity of 850kW, and a high voltage substation connected to the national grid.

Renewable contract

The information can further be used to compare individual performance of turbines against industry level.

“We have a one-year renewable contract as we develop. This is a pilot phase to make us understand how this will pan out,” Otieno said.

A portion of LTWP’s revenue goes to a foundation the firm supports. Dubbed Winds of Change  Foundation, it works with local communities to deepen access to healthcare, clean water, and education in line with their own priorities.

“By maximising annual energy production from the project based on insights delivered through in-depth performance monitoring, we can likewise deliver greater community benefits,” Otieno said.

“Having worked across a number of large-scale, unique projects around the world, we are keen to leverage our wide-ranging experience to assess Lake Turkana’s current performance and potential gains,” said David O’Hare, Clir director for Europe.

Lake Turkana Wind Power’s consortium consists of KP&P Africa B.V and Aldwych International as co-developers, Investment Fund for Developing Countries, Vestas Eastern Africa Limited, Finnish Fund for Industrial Cooperation Ltd, KLP Norfund Investments AS and Sandpiper.