When President Uhuru Kenyatta commissioned a revolutionary power project in 2017, the Head of State was poised to lead Africa's biggest clean energy company.
Five years down the line, the project, Lake Turkana Wind Power (LTWP) in Marsabit County, however, has become a pain in the pockets of tax-payers.
According to a report by Auditor General, Nancy Gathungu, a delay in connecting the power plant to the national grid has cost Kenyans a total of Ksh18 billion.
According to a report by Business Daily, the 381 days delay was caused by extended completion of the high voltage power line between Marsabit and Suswa.
The power line of the project, which was commissioned in 2017, was completed in September 2019 leading to the build-up of the penalties payable by the Kenyan Government.
The Auditor General further noted that from the amount, Ksh10.3 billion has already been paid out with the balance expected to be hiked owing to the rising electricity bills.
“Due to delays in completing the transmission line, energy charge was not evacuated from LTWP plant resulting in accrued penalties to the government referred to as Deemed Generated Electricity (DGE) claims amounting to Ksh18 billion for the period January 27, 2017 to September 10, 2019," reads the Auditor General's report.
“The balance (Ksh9.8 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.”
In July 2019, African Development Bank (AfDB) ranked the project as Africa's largest wind farm.
LTWP has an installed capacity of 310MW of clean, reliable, low-cost energy and 365 wind turbines with a capacity of 850kW each.
"The project will benefit Kenya by providing clean and affordable energy that will reduce the overall energy cost to end consumers," read a statement from AfDB in 2015.
Two years after construction began, the power plant started feeding electricity to the national electricity grid.
