The 300 MW Lake Turkana wind farm project will be delayed a further eight months  to the end of 2013 according to the chairman of the company behind the project who said investors have struggled to gain guarantees from the Kenya  government. Carlo van Weningen, chairman of Lake Turkana Wind Power told reporters at an African Power Conference on 16 March 2011that the first 50 MW of the Euro 560 million wind farm is now slated to come online at the end of 2013 with the full generation reached by mid-2014.

The company had already pushed back the first power-up date for the first 50 MW from June this year to the end of 2012. However, in a recent interview w, the director of renewable energy  for the Kenya Energy Regulatory Commission accused the developers of making unreasonable demands on the government. He also expressed confidence that once Lake Turkana is completed, more wind power projects will be constructed.

“I believe the investors were asking for too much because their Power Purchase Agreement is as good as a guarantee, which is what everyone has,” he said. “I also believe that once one person comes through, the wind projects will kick off.”

The conference came in the same week as the South African government reportedly approved a new plan  to reduce the country’s reliance on coal by ensuring two -thirds  of new power capacity added over the next 20 years comes from renewable and nuclear sources.