AFRICA - Ethiopia and
Kenya on Monday secured a $5 million grant from the Geothermal Risk Mitigation
Facility (GRMF) for Eastern Africa to develop renewable energy and reduce cost
in the use of fuel to generate electricity. The GRMF established by the African
Union Commission (AUC) had agreed to give Kenya, already the world’s ninth
largest geothermal power producer $4.25 million to generate 200 MW in
Bogoria-Silali area, in line with its ambition to become geothermal energy
power block.
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 of geothermal capacity at Suswa, about 55 km from
Nairobi and Longonot underway, the AUC Commissioner for Infrastructure, Elham
Ibrahim had said at the signing ceremony.
Ethiopia,
whose 90 per cent energy source is through Hydro, also secured $976.872 to
conduct a study at its Dofan and Cobetti 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 300 MW.
Ethiopia’s
State Minister for Mines, Tewodros Egziabher, while signing the document 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.
Copyright :
APA
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