Construction World June 2015

ENVIRONMENT

WIND POWER project

Lake Turkana

Following the November 2014 signing of a contract to deliver project management services to Lake Turkana Wind Power’s wind farm project in Kenya, WorleyParsons has begun to mobilise its project management teams on site in the Loyangalani District, Marsabit West County, in the Turkana region.

water availability and road accessibility. The project spans an area of 160 km 2 and the scope includes 365 wind turbines of 850 kW each, an electric grid collec- tion system and a high voltage substation, as well as upgrades to 200 km of existing road, an internal site road network and a 160 man self-contained village for the turbine contractor’s team. The village, that incorporates a bank and a medical facility, will later house personnel for the operational phase of the project. The Kenyan government has undertaken to finance and construct a 428 km transmission line that will link into the national grid at Nairobi. WorleyParsons project manager on the Lake Turkana Wind Project, Stefan van Niekerk, says logistics will be one of the biggest challenges, as a high volume of components need to be transported from the Port at Mombasa to the project site, a distance about 1 200 km, over a 12-month period from Q1 2016. Although each contractor will take responsibility for its own logistics, Worley- Parsons will oversee the process in terms of facility inspections, quality checks and testing, and delivery schedules. Corporate Social Investment is a key deliverable for WorleyParsons and the team is currently investigating opportunities to contribute to local communities. Informal donations have already been made to a local school. WorleyParsons RSA is one of the largest engineering contractors in South Africa, offering Advisory, Select, Delivery and Improve (sustaining capital) services into sub-Saharan Africa across the customer sectors of mining, hydrocarbons, power and infrastructure.

The 32-month project, which will establish the biggest wind farm of its kind in sub-Saharan Africa and represents one of the biggest

Rizwan Fazal of Lake Turkana Wind Power says: “WorleyParsons brings an invaluable combination of local and international knowledge and experience to this project. Both the international and local organisa- tions have reputations for delivering world class projects and we are delighted to have them on board for this critical undertaking.” The Project Management team com- prises a core group of WorleyParsons project leaders, supplemented with professional personnel sourced locally in Kenya, as part of its localisation philosophy. These profes- sionals will have a unique opportunity to work on a project of this magnitude and to gain specialised skills. The team is split between WorleyPar- sons’ Nairobi project office and the Turkana site office, which is located at a distance of 12 hours by road in a 4x4 from Nairobi, or 1,5 hours by chartered flight. This remote, desert-like environment is inhabited by about 10 nomadic tribes, with the closest village about 40 km away. The site was selected following an extensive survey of the region that focused on environmental, social and sustainability, technology and commercial considerations. The survey took into account the remoteness and security of the area, the strength and stability of the winds, proven available technology, the benign environ- mental setting, low population density, fresh

>

single private investment in Kenya’s history, aims to supply 300 MW of reliable, low cost wind turbine generator capacity to the Kenyan national grid, equivalent to about 20% of the country’s current installed elec- tricity generating capacity. The project is part of the Kenyan govern- ment’s drive to generate 5000 MW for the country by 2017. “This is the biggest renewable energy project WorleyParsons RSA has under- taken to date,” says the company’s Denver Dreyer. “We’ve already forged a proud track record in the renewable energy space and being awarded this contract is testament to our ability as a partner of choice for energy developers in remote locations. As one of Kenya’s top three capex projects, it is of strategic importance that we deliver this undertaking to the country in a manner that will ensure it will be of lasting benefit to its people.” WorleyParsons will provide overall project management, engineering review and construction management services and was also awarded a pre-mobilisation contract to develop management philos- ophies/protocols and align contractors to allow the project to begin at a robust pace.

16

WorleyParsons RSA’s Denver Dreyer.

CONSTRUCTION WORLD JUNE 2015