310 MW wind farm in Kenya connects to grid

Lake Turkana Wind Power (LTWP) has announced that the 310 MW wind farm, located in Loiyangalani District, Marsabit County, north-west Kenya, has commenced been connected to the National Grid. Comprised of 365 wind turbines, the wind farm's outut is injected into the grid via the 400kV Loiyangalani-Suswa transmission line.

This is a major milestone in the protracted commissioning process. All 365 turbines were installed, certified by independent engineers and ready to generate clean and renewable energy in 2017. However, the transmission line had not been completed, thus electricity could not have been transmitted in to the national grid.

The double-circuit transmission line has now been energised, allowing the wind farm to be ‘powered-up’ using electricity from the grid - in this case from the Suswa sub-station, 436km from the project site. 

LTWP has now commenced "Hot Commissioning", a series of tests that ensure that everything works well together when all the wind farm’s components (turbines, substation, statcoms) are live and linked to the national grid via the transmission line.

Some tests are used to assess the impact of the national grid on the wind farm operations – and vice versa. A key aspect is to assess reactive power (vars) which is required to maintain the voltage to deliver active power (watts) through the transmission line on both sides. Thus, the wind farm is being energised and integrated into the grid in stages.

The testing and commissioning process is expected to be completed by the end of October. Once complete, the wind farm will power over a million Kenyan homes.