Iberdrola and Gamesa secure a contract for a wind energy plant in Kenya

A consortium formed by Iberdrola Ingeniería (40%) and Gamesa (60%) has been awarded the contract to build a 13.6 MW wind farm in Kenya for €20 million. The new facility will be located in Ngong, about 30 kilometres from Nairobi, with construction expected to be completed within 18 months.

This turnkey project was awarded by Kenya’s national power company, Kenya Electricity Generating Company Limited (KenGen), and includes the engineering, supply, construction and commissioning of the wind farm. Called ‘Ngong II’, the farm will have 16 Gamesa G52 turbines and will be financed with Spain’s development aid fund (Fondos de Ayuda al Desarrollo or FAD).

IBERDROLA INGENIERÍA, which in recent years has become the group’s technological core, has had operations in Kenya since 2006. It has a sales office in the country’s capital, Nairobi, manned by staff relocated from Spain.

Between then and the end of 2009, it carried out a project entailing the automation of KenGen’s hydro plants and the construction of a control centre for this company. The project implied significant technology transfer for Kenya and extensive training periods for Kenyan workers.

For Gamesa it meant the company’s arrival in Kenya, in line with its strategy of penetrating new markets and customers. Planning to stay in Kenya over the long term, the Iberdrola subsidiary is currently considering participating in more wind projects, as well as other projects related to power networks and geothermal plants.

Iberdrola Ingeniería, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Iberdrola headquartered in Erandio (Vizcaya), is the world’s third largest energy engineering company by turnover from foreign business and the biggest in the Spanish power sector. It has projects in over 30 countries in Europe, Africa, the Americas and the Middle East, and its activities include engineering for the power generation and transmission sectors, both traditional (e.g. nuclear, combined cycled gas-fired) and renewable (mainly wind).

In Africa, the company upgraded Tunisia’s power grid between 2004 and 2009 after winning a contract put out to tender by the country’s public utility, Societé Tunisenne d’Electricité et du Gaz, to automate the country’s distribution infrastructure. In Algeria, it is currently building a 2,100 MW combined-cycled plant in Koudiet, developed in a consortium with GE after winning a tender involving a contract signed in January 2008 worth €1,470 million.

With over 15 years of experience, Gamesa is a world leader in the design, manufacture, installation and maintenance of wind turbines and has installed nearly 20,000 MW in 26 countries on four continents.

The company is also a global benchmark in the market for the development, construction and sale of wind farms, with more than 3,500 MW installed and a wind farm portfolio totalling 22,000 MW at varying stages of development in Europe, America and Asia.

With 30 manufacturing facilities in Europe, the US, China and India and 4,400 MW of annual manufacturing capacity, Gamesa has an international workforce of more than 7,000 people.

www.iberdrolaingenieria.com

www.gamesa.es