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Turkwel

Hydro power plant in Northern Region, Kenya. Approximate location 1.9138, 35.3443.

HydroNorthern RegionKenya

Turkwel is a 106 MW hydro power station in Northern Region, Kenya. It is operated by Kenya Electric Generating Company. Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 106,121 homes (estimated). It ranks #10 of 23 Kenya power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1990, it is around 36 years old — long-established. As a non-combustion source, it has no direct CO₂ emissions from generation. In context, hydro supplies about 20.9% of Kenya's electricity; the national grid averages 95 gCO₂/kWh (90.0% low-carbon) (2025).

106MW installed capacity
106,121homes powered (est.)
1990commissioned (~36 yrs)

Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id WRI1000047.

Capacity vs largest hydro plants in Kenya

Gitaru: 225 MW225GitaruKiambere: 168 MW168KiambereTurkwel: 106 MW106TurkwelKamburu: 94 MW94KamburuKindaruma: 72 MW72KindarumaSondu Miru: 60 MW60Sondu MiruMasinga: 40 MW40MasingaTana: 20 MW20Tana

Installed capacity (MW), WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0).

Owner

Operated by Kenya Electric Generating Company. All plants by this company →

Local climate & thermal context

This hydro plant converts the energy of falling or flowing water through hydro turbines. It sits in a tropical savanna climate (Köppen Aw) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 1.9°N — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.

20.9°Cannual mean temp
0heating degree-days (base 18°C)
1,071cooling degree-days (base 18°C)
1,432 melevation

Monthly mean temperature

J: 21 °CJF: 22 °CFM: 22 °CMA: 22 °CAM: 21 °CMJ: 20 °CJJ: 20 °CJA: 20 °CAS: 20 °CSO: 21 °CON: 21 °CND: 21 °CD22 °C

Heating degree-days here run 100% below the median power plant in this dataset — a proxy for how much extra energy heated equipment must replace through its surfaces in winter.

Climate heat-demand index: 13/100 — this site sits in the bottom third of the power plants we cover by heating degree-days.

In colder climates, uninsulated hot equipment (boilers, turbines, valves, steam lines) loses proportionally more heat to ambient air — exactly the loss Inzonex modular insulation is designed to cut.

Climate normals: WorldClim 2.1 (1970–2000 monthly normals, 10 arc-min, CC BY 4.0); zone: Köppen-Geiger world climate classification (Kottek et al. 2006, 0.5° grid). Degree-days & heat-demand index computed by PowerAtlas — a modelled heat-demand proxy, not a measured site figure.

How it compares & nearby plants

The #3 largest hydro power plant of 8 in Kenya by capacity.

Kenya has 8 hydro power plants in this dataset, together about 785 MW of capacity.

Nearby power plants

Location

Coordinates 1.9138, 35.3443 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.

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