- Finnfund is selling its shares in Lake Turkana Wind Power (LTWP), which operates Kenya’s 310 MW Lake Turkana wind farm.
- It is the second shareholder to withdraw from East Africa’s largest wind project.
The Finnish Fund for Industrial Cooperation (Finnfund), one of the project’s investors, is selling its interests in the special purpose company Lake Turkana Wind Power (LTWP). The public-private financing company Climate Finance Partnership (CFP), run by BlackRock Alternatives, is acquiring its shares. The agreement has already been signed, and Finnfund anticipates that it will close in the second quarter of 2023.
“LTWP was the largest equity investment made by Finnfund at the time of commitment. It is also one of the largest private investments in Kenya’s history,” recalls the Helsinki, Finland-based investment firm. It joins the Norwegian Investment Fund for Developing Countries (NORFUND), as well as the Danish wind turbine manufacturer Vestas Wind Systems, which put its shares up for sale in 2020.
LTWP is co-owned by Anergi Turkana Investments, the Anergi entity that acquired the assets from Norfund in 2021, in addition to its two investors. The Danish Climate Investment Fund (KIF) through the Investment Fund for Developing Countries (IFU), Sandpiper, and Dutch investor KP&P Africa (KP&P) are also owners of the wind farm.
By the record, with a 310.25-Megawatt capacity, the Lake Turkana wind farm is the biggest in East Africa. The 160 km2 district of Loiyangalani in Marsabit County, 545 km by road north of Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, is home to 365 wind turbines that generate this electricity. The wind farm is covered by a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) signed between Lake Turkana Wind Power and the state-owned Kenya Power Company.