Meteorologists describe the Turkana channel as the valley between the Kenya highlands and the Ethiopian highlands. This channel helps form the "Turkana low level jet." Strong winds exist throughout this channel with speeds decreasing where the channel is wider.
Two distinct jet streams have been identified; these combine in Marsabit into a single very high wind low-level jet. The Turkana channel is ultimately responsible for the consistent predictable winds found on the Southeastern shores of Lake Turkana where the project is located.
These winds, known locally as the upepo, were first described by the Austrian Count Teleki and his assistant Lt. Ludwig von Hohnel. Von Hohnel wrote in 1888 about this area where "No living creature shared the gloomy solitude with us: and as far as our glass could reach there was nothing to be seen but desert-desert everywhere. To all this was added scorching heat, and the ceaseless buffeting of the sand-laden wind…"
In 1964 John Hillaby wrote in his book "Journey to the Jade Sea", referring to the very location selected for the project, that the "wind began to rise at dawn until at times it had some of the skull-wrinkling intensity of a scream."
Thus is described the long-known and now valuable renewable energy resource that LTWP will utilize. More specifically, the German Wind Energy Institute - DEWI conducted confirmatory on-site wind measurement at the locations selected for construction of the wind turbines.
DEWI has been taking systematic wind speed measurements on site since the 1st of December-2006, and these reliably indicate an average monthly wind speed of 11 meters per second. These results are among the best DEWI has ever encountered and can be compared to "proven reserves" in the hydrocarbon industry.
