"Kinangop Wind Park loses Sh31b claim against GoK in London Court"

The International Court of Arbitration seating in London, has dismissed a claim against the Government of Kenya for over Sh31 billion that had been filed by Kinangop Wind Park Limited. The Tribunal in its award issued on 2nd July 2018 dismissed all the claims by the wind power firm but has reserved the final award on costs of the arbitration. The arbitration arose out of a proposed 60.8 Megawatt wind turbine farm to be located in Kinangop at a cost of US $154 Million.

The project, which has since stalled due to community protests, was a Vision 2030 initiative, and sought to increase the generation capacity from 1.5GW to 5.6GW by the year 2022. The protests specifically centered on the lack of proper community engagement and sensitization, compensation of the people around the set back areas, relocation and the manner in which the land was leased. Kinangop Wind Park was seeking compensation and damages under the Letter of Support issued by the Kenyan Government for the erection of 38 wind turbines alleging that the government had failed to eliminate a political event emanating from the protests. The Government of Kenya on its part filed a defence denying the allegations and filed a counterclaim and an order for costs. The Tribunal in its ruling declared that there was no Political Event within the meaning of the Letter of Support and dismissed Kinangop Wind Park Limited’s claims and request for reliefs.