Wind energy development in Kenya—A review

Abstract

During the past decade there have been various activities in Kenya concerning wind energy, for instance, windmill manufacture, feasibility studies on wind energy utilization and wind energy potential assessment. This paper reviews these activities and examines some pertinent issues. It is found that most windmill manufacturing ventures have failed and that characteristics of the wind regimes have generally been ignored in the design process. Where local windmill manufacture has succeeded it has not led to a cheap windpump. Many feasibility studies have been conducted but most of them have been expensive and poorly coordinated; in addition, they have invariably used inadequate wind data bases. This paper further notes that certain steps need to be taken to strengthen wind energy development in Kenya, namely: establishment of a wind data bank and a wind documentation centre, active support for basic and applied research in the field of wind energy and provision of incentives to windmill manufacturers