Kenya: Opic signs guarantees worth $250m for Lake Turkana

The US Overseas Private Investment Corporation (Opic) has approved an investment guarantee worth up to $250m for the 310MW Lake Turkana wind farm, inching the project towards financial close. The project company signed financing agreements worth $687m in March and has already received partial risk guarantees from the African Development Bank (AfDB) worth $27m, the first to be issued by the AfDB in a low-income country, after the World Bank pulled out of the project in 2012.The plant is expected to begin operating in early 2016, with full operation expected by 2019. Power is anticipated to be produced at a cost of Ksh9/kWh (10c/kWh).