Kenya’s Kinangop wind farm highlights land issues

Work at the $150m 60MW Kinangop wind farm remains on hold amid continuing tensions with the local community, with project sponsors accusing local political leaders of reneging on agreements. Despite the lifting of a court injunction halting the project, the project owners – Norway’s Norfund and South Africa’s African Infrastructure Investment Fund II, part of Old Mutual – say work will not resume until the issues have been resolved. The situation is perhaps the most serious facing a private power project in Kenya, but land and compensation issues have also touched the 982MW Lamu coal power project and the 310MW Lake Turkana wind scheme, where an injunction was rejected but court proceedings are ongoing.