OPIC Board of Directors Commits to Lake Turkana Wind Power Project, Affirms Power Africa Pledge
June 10, 2014
(OPIC)
WASHINGTON – The Board of Directors of the Overseas Private Investment
Corporation (OPIC), the U.S. Government’s development finance institution, has
approved an investment guaranty of up to $250 million to support construction of
the Lake Turkana Wind Power project in northern Kenya.
OPIC joins several development finance institutions as well as private lenders
in providing financing for the 310-megawatt project, which will be the single
largest wind power project in Africa and is projected to serve more than 2.5
million Kenyan homes, boosting the country’s installed energy capacity by 20%.
OPIC is playing a key role in President Obama’s Power Africa Initiative, which
aims to catalyze private investors to produce 10,000 megawatts of new energy for
the more than 600 million Sub-Saharan Africans currently living without power.
OPIC has committed to provide $1.5 billion to develop energy projects throughout
Sub-Saharan Africa over the next five years in support of the initiative.
“This is a historic project and underscores the U.S. government’s support for
powering Africa,” said Elizabeth Littlefield, OPIC’s President and CEO. “By
joining this esteemed group of lenders for the monumental Lake Turkana wind
project, OPIC solidifies our commitment to the transformative goals of Power
Africa, helping to catalyze the private capital that will be the key to bringing
electricity to millions of people in Africa.”
The power produced by the Lake Turkana project will be a significant
contribution to both the Power Africa Initiative and to Kenya, where less than
25 percent of the population has access to power. The project is projected to
create over 2,000 jobs during the construction phase and sustain nearly 200
full-time jobs when operational.
“OPIC’s power generation portfolio in Africa is quite diverse and growing
rapidly. This project demonstrates the collaborative and innovative approach
OPIC takes in supporting the Power Africa goal of achieving widespread energy
access across Sub-Saharan Africa. The creative partnerships in the Lake Turkana
project are touchstones of how Power Africa will achieve its goals, and the
millions of people in Kenya that will gain new energy access are proof of our
progress in this initiative,” added Littlefield.
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