Local learning and capability building through technology transfer: experiences from the Lake Turkana Wind Power project in Kenya

ABSTRACT

This paper contributes to the ongoing debate in innovation and development studies on renewable energy projects and their contributions to sustainable industrialization through the accumulation of innovation capabilities. Based on a case study of a large wind power project in Kenya, this research explores technology transfer and interactive learning processes to accumulate local capabilities. The study emphasizes the multiplicity of actors involved in complex infrastructure projects and explores the nature of their relationships and interactions through the research question: What are the opportunities and limitations for local learning and capability building through technology transfer in large renewable energy infrastructure projects? Identifying interactions across multiple phases of the Lake Turkana Wind Power project, the results show that multiple loops of interactions foster better local-learning opportunities. Wider project learning and learning for sustainable industrialization require deliberate investments to build collective capabilities.

KEYWORDS:

• Technology transfer
• wind power
• local learning
• technological capabilities
• Lake Turkana Wind Power project
• Kenya

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs grant DFC 14-09AAU. The author is grateful for all the research participants who shared their valuable insights and time with this study. Earlier versions of this paper were presented at the Globelics PhD Academy 2018 in Pretoria and a workshop in Nairobi in February 2019. The paper greatly benefitted from the ideas and comments generously shared by colleagues at both events, as well as the anonymous reviewers.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 The 2019 Energy Act led to the creation of new regulatory bodies, including the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (successor to the Energy Regulatory Commission, or ERC) and the Rural Electrification and Renewable Energy Corporation (REREC, successor to the Rural Electrification Authority). REREC’s mandate has expanded from accelerating rural electrification to promoting RE use by the local population and putting RE at the centre of policy formulation, international cooperation and R&D. This paper refers to the ERC as LTWP negotiated with it, and the fieldwork was conducted before these organizational changes.

2 Ngong Hills is Kenya’s only other grid-connected wind project. Owned by KenGen owned, it was built in the early 1990s as a demonstration project but has been expanded to supply up to 25 MW of wind power to the grid.

3 In the figures, foreign actors are indicated by rectangles, while local actors are shown as ovals.

4 Analysing the issue of land value and LTWP, Cormack and Kurewa (2018) detailed the contentions in the consultation process for local communities, the lease conditions between the project and Marsabit Count Council and the tensions caused since project commencement.

5 A wayleave is a right of way over land owned by another party, such as carrying sewer, drain, power lines or pipelines into through, over or under any lands (KETRACO n.d.).

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs grant DFC 14-09AAU.