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Kenya: Press Releases: Lake Turkana Wind Power Ltd Approved for Carbon Credits |
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Wednesday, 25 May 2011 |
Nairobi, 24 May 2011 --- The United Nations has registered sub-Saharan Africa’s largest wind farm, Lake Turkana Wind Power Ltd (LTWP), under a mechanism that will allow the project to generate carbon credits from its greenhouse gas emission reductions.
The 310MW Lake Turkana Wind Power project is situated close to the shores of Lake Turkana in northwestern Kenya. The wind farm, which will be operational from 2013, is being developed by a group of local and foreign entrepreneurs.
“We are extremely pleased to have received notification of project registration,” said Carlo van Wageningen, Chairman of LTWP. “This is another important milestone for LTWP, and is further confirmation that renewable energy is a viable option for Africa.”
“LTWP has pledged to return part of the carbon credit revenue to the Government of Kenya,” added Mr van Wageningen. “And it is of great comfort that the government has indicated that it will use such revenue for development activities in the project area.”
The wind farm was registered by the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change after independent auditing and expert review. Carbon credits generated under the CDM are known as “Certified Emission Reductions,” each equivalent to one metric tonne of carbon dioxide reduced or removed from the atmosphere. The project expects to reduce emissions by more than 700,000 tonnes per annum by displacing fossil fuel-based electricity generation. This is equivalent to the emissions of more than 150,000 cars in a year.
“The carbon credits played a key role in making the project commercially viable,” said Adriaan Tas, Managing Director of Carbon Africa Limited, the Kenyan company that worked with the project to achieve CDM registration. “The registration of the wind farm is also further indication that CDM is picking up in Africa and confirms that it is possible to develop high-quality carbon projects on the continent.”
The Africa Carbon Asset Development (ACAD) Facility, jointly set up by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and Standard Bank with funding from the German government, helped to cover some of the costs related to the development and monitoring of the carbon credits.
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