Lekela and Senelec have celebrated the delivery of wind turbine components for PETN wind farm, the first utility-scale wind project in West Africa.
Image: The Port Autonome de Dakar and Lekela have arranged a ceremony, to mark the delivery for PETN wind farm. Photo: Courtesy of Lekela Power.
Lekela, a renewable power generation company, along with its partner Senelec has announced the delivery of Vestas wind turbine components into Port Autonome de Dakar, for the first utility-scale wing project in West Africa.
Lekela said that the wind turbine components delivered at the port are transported to the 158.7MW wind farm by road and marks a significant progress in the construction process.
The Port Autonome de Dakar and Lekela have arranged a ceremony, to mark the delivery for PETN wind farm
Vestas has delivered turbine components including a 117m tubular steel tower, with a blade length of 61.7m that provides a large swept area of 12,469m2 to allow the wind turbines maximise the amount of energy captured from the wind.
Once completed, the wind farm is expected to comprise 46 Vestas wind turbines and produce 3.45MW from each turbine, and is expected to create hundreds of jobs during construction
Lekela Senegal general manager Massaer Cisse said: “This is an incredibly exciting moment for Lekela, and for PETN. From a project that was just an idea a few years ago, we now see it quickly becoming a reality. It won’t be long until PETN will be providing power for over 2 million people in Senegal.
“Already, hundreds of employment opportunities are being created in construction, and further benefits will be provided through the creation of infrastructure and services for workers as part of a 20-year social investment programme that will greatly benefit the local area.”
PETN is organising a socio-economic programme in the Taiba N’Diaye area creating sustainable livelihoods in the local community
The 20-year programme is expected to invest up to £15.7m over the life time of the wind farm projects to improve local agriculture, provide vocational training opportunities, and refurbish or build local infrastructure.
Senelec general manager Pape Mademba Bitèye said: “This plant is the result of a fruitful partnership between Senelec and Lekela. This partnership was made possible thanks to the support of the State of Senegal and local authorities, which enabled us to remove all the constraints related to this type of project, notably by facilitating the provision of land and the necessary guarantees.
“We are delighted by this form of multipartite collaboration between Senelec, the developers and the local community and look forward to the commissioning of the first phase towards the end of 2019.”