The government paid private investors Sh. 18 billion for the Lake Turkana Wind Power which has been sitting idle for a period of one year. This pay out followed delays by the government to connect the project to the national power grid.
The delay was due to the incomplete 428 kilometre high-voltage power line from Marsabit to Suswa sub-station in Narok, which is the main interchange for power from different sources.
“Due to delays in completing the transmission line, energy charge was not evacuated from Lake Turkana Wind Power plant resulting in accrued penalties to the government referred to as deemed generated electricity (DGE) claims amounting to Sh. 18,499,082,672 for the period January 27, 2017 to September 10, 2019,” the auditor general Nancy Gathungu said in an audit of the Lake Turkana Wind Power.
According to the audit, Lake Turkana Wind Power commissioned its 310 megawatts power plant on January 27, 2017. However, the government, which built the evacuation line did not complete the works until September 24, 2019.
The audit by Ms. Gathungu said that the government has paid Sh. 10.3 billion to owners of project developers, leaving a balance of Sh. 9.8 billion.
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“The balance (Sh. 9.8 billion) is to be recovered by LTWP Ltd through a tariff increase by Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) of Euros 0.00845/Kwh for the period June 1, 2018 to May 31, 2024 (DEG recovery period) and likely to be borne by the consumers,” she said.
Lake Turkana Wind Power is the single largest wind power plant in Africa. It has a capacity of 310 megawatts which is adequate to power one million homes.
