Haberler

Ethiopia and Kenya secure $5 million in grants from GRMF

Corbetti Caldera, Ethiopia (source: Reykjavik Geothermal)
Alexander Richter 3 Mar 2014

Announced today from Ethiopia, the Geothermal Risk Mitigation Facility has granted funding of $4.25 million to Kenya's Bogoria-Silali geothermal development in Kenya, and about $1 million for studies at geothermal fields of Dofan and Corbetti in Ethiopia.

In news this morning it is reported that Ethiopia and Kenya on Monday secured a total of $5 million in grants from the Geothermal Risk Mitigation Facility (GRMF) for Eastern Africa.

The GRMF established by the African Union Commission (AUC) had agreed to give Kenya’s Geothermal Development Company, $4.25 million to help in the development of up to 200 MW of geothermal power generation capacity in the Bogoria-Silali area in Kenya.

Silas Simiyu of Geothermal Development Company, who signed for Kenya in Addis Ababa said geothermal currently accounts for 13.5 percent of the country’s power mix, while hydropower accounts for 44.5 percent, making the country a renewable energy leader, with power supply being intermittently applied, particularly during droughts, when hydropower production drops.”

The State-owned Geothermal Development Company had secured approvals for three projects including the 300MW development project at Suswa, about 55 km from Nairobi and Longonot, the AUC Commissioner for Infrastructure, Elham Ibrahim had said at the signing ceremony.

Ethiopia secured $976.872 to conduct a study at its Dofan and Corbetti areas in the northern region of the country, as it is set to sign another $5.6 million agreement with the same body in the next two weeks to develop up to 300 MW of geothermal power generation capacity.

Ethiopia’s State Minister for Mines, Tewodros Egziabher, said his country had the prospects of generating 10,000 MW from geothermal energy from 22 identified potential areas.

The AUC established the facility in 2009 with collaboration from the European Union (EU) and Germany.

The AUC said it was processing the second phase of the applications for the facility from the 11 benefitting countries in the region, including Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, Congo DRC, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.”

Source: Agence de Press Africaine