Gemcorp Capital Management Limited has committed a substantial capital investment into Milele Energy with a portion of the proceeds to fund the Kenya-based clean energy platform’s bid for a stake in Africa’s largest wind farm, the 310-MW Lake Turkana Wind Power plant.
The fresh capital will also support the execution of Milele’s over 500-MW pipeline of power infrastructure projects across Africa, including both renewable technologies and gas-for-baseload applications, the Kenyan independent power-generation company said in a statement earlier this week.
The London-based emerging markets asset manager separately said that it is making a seed investment into the USD 150 million energy transition platform that includes funding for the Lake Turkana bet with further plans to make significant expansion in generation capacity from available wind and solar resources.
Milele’s intent to buy a stake in the Lake Turkana project was disclosed at the AmCham Business Summit in Nairobi at the end of March. Further details about the planned transaction were not provided.
Milele Energy was established by 3 former GE Africa executives in 2019 to invest in clean energy projects across sub-Saharan Africa. The company has outlined as its focus areas solar, wind and hydroelectric power, as well as gas and transmission infrastructure and energy storage.
Lake Turkana will mark the platform's 1st project investment, with the deal to be completed in April. In mid-2023, the Kenyan firm expects to wrap up a 2nd project investment which will total over 400 MW, according to its website.
Featuring 365 wind turbines, the 310-MW Lake Turkana wind farm has supplied about 20% of Kenya’s electricity since its commissioning in 2019. A fund managed by US investment giant BlackRock agreed to take an undisclosed stake in the facility in the middle of March.