johnthefireman wrote:george matthews wrote:wind systems found in Kenya
George, you might be interested to hear that wind power has expanded in Kenya since your day. There are some quite spectacular wind turbines in the Ngong Hills these days - I see them regularly as I drive that way - and far more than there were just a few years ago. There are also plans to build more in Kajiado County, I understand. I live in that county on a ridge overlooking the Great Rift Valley and the winds at night are really regular and strong - I think it is something to do with the difference in temperatures between the valley and the ridge. But as I have said before, Kenya's greatest potential source of renewable energy is geothermal, and that is being expanded.
Many European wind farms are now offshore, with pretty constant and very strong winds. But as you say, wind is not the only renewable energy source. As per the UK statistics I quoted a couple of posts back, while a little more than 50% of electricity is still generated by fossil fuels and nuclear, that leaves an impressive amount generated by renewable sources, with a massive 24.3% from solar on some days.
I used to visit Rusinga Island and became acquainted with the wind regime there. At night, and in the early morning, there was a gentle wind from the east, caused by the land cooling down and the lake staying the same temperature. With some friends we travelled by sailing boat from Homa Bay to Rusinga under the moon. The journey was fairly slow but very enjoyable. We left Homa Bay at about midnight with some food. The boat took us to the western end of the island by about sunrise. I can't remember the exact time when the wind reversed direction - probably about 11.00 - but for the rest of the day a quite strong west wind blew to the east, used by the sailing boats travelling to Kisumu and the other towns along that stretch of the lake.
I have long been aware that if a series of modern wind generators could be erected in that area Kenya could gain a large amount of its energy needs. The West Wind towards Kisumu would be very suitable to add to the grid. Probably the East wind at night would not contribute much.
BTW this evening there was an interesting discussion on BBC Radio 4 about renewable energy. One topic aired was Batteries. It seems there are some important new storage devices which will be very useful for storing wind energy and other renewable sources which have intervals of no power. I think the prospects for non-carbon energy are looking very good. I was disappointed that there was no mention of biogas, which I have used and promoted in Kenya and Nigeria. I think there are huge possibilities of this method - energy from farms. Probably not for rail transport - though Sweden has used it in a rail car. I hear that biogas is spreading well in Kenya. Have you come across it?