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Construction on a 365-turbine wind farm is set to begin in June in an arid region of northern Kenya, project officials told AFP on Saturday (March 24th).

The turbines will be erected near Lake Turkana, where winds blow at an average speed of 11 metres per second. The $775-million project, the largest wind farm on the African continent, has been in development for seven years.

"All contracts are in place," said Carlo Van Wegeningen, head of the Lake Turkana Wind Power Project. Construction will start after World Bank member institutions finalise the risk guarantees.

The Lake Turkana wind farm is expected to begin producing energy in 2014 at a capacity of 50 megawatts, reaching its full capacity of 300 megawatts by 2015. The consortium for the Kenyan project has entered into a contract to sell the power produced to utility firm Kenya Power at a cost of less than $.10 per kilowatt hour, making it Kenya's cheapest energy source, next to geothermal energy.

The African Development Bank will arrange loans to cover 70% of the project cost, with the remaining 30% from private investment funds and co-developers. It will be the largest private investment in East Africa, Van Wegeningen said.

A 428-kilometre transmission line will also be built to link the wind farm to the national grid at an additional cost of $188 million. The transmission line will be built by a Spanish firm and financed by loans from the Spanish and Kenyan governments.

Morocco currently boasts Africa's largest wind energy production, with a capacity of 140 megawatts from 165 turbines.