Lake Turkana Wind Power is Africa’s largest wind farm to date, and it is also the largest private investment ever in Kenya. The wind farm was, among other things, created to produce renewable energy for Kenya’s national grid, to reduce power cuts and to save the country millions of euros in fuel imports.

The 310 MW Lake Turkana wind park, the largest in Vestas’ history by the number of turbines, is a true testament to Vestas’ strong capabilities in emerging markets. The Lake Turkana area has strong and stable winds of 11 s/m on average. Translated this means that the wind turbines produce electricity 70 per cent of the time, which is almost twice as much as what they produce in European onshore wind parks.

It took more than eight years to finalise the project and it required a financial package of approximately 600 million euros. Nordic Development Financing Institutions have provided a substantial part of the equity and EIFO (formerly known as Denmark’s Export Credit Agency, EKF) also supported the project by providing a project-financing guarantee of 120 million euros. This relieved the funding providers of risk.

In 2024, Lake Turkana supplies approximately 14 per cent of Kenya’s electricity consumption.

With its 310 MW, the LTWP wind farm remains the largest in Africa to date.

Over the years, the project has improved access to the Lake Turkana area by establishing more than 200 km of roads which has had a significant offset on the area’s infrastructure. The number of power cuts in Kenya has been reduced considerably since the turbines started to run at full speed, and fossil-based energy production has more than halved in a year. Consequently, the CO2 emissions have been considerably reduced. It has also been an excellent project for the local labour market, with around 2.500 people being employed during the construction. Currently, the company employs close to 330 people, of whom around 85 per cent come from Marsabit County.

Vestas has been a shareholder in LTWP since 2014 from development and construction until power generation. The project was connected to the national Kenyan grid in 2018.

In early 2024, Vestas and The Danish Climate Investment Fund, managed by IFU, sold its shares in Lake Turkana Wind Power plant in line with a strategy of not being the long-term owner. Vestas will continue to service the turbines, each with a capacity of 850 kilowatts.