17 September 2013, Addis Ababa – The Icelandic International Development Agency, ICEIDA, has signed a Partnership Agreement with the Government of Ethiopia to enable both countries to work together in geothermal development and capacity building .
The implementing agencies in Ethiopia are the Geological Survey of Ethiopia and the Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation. The agreement has been initiated under an Iceland – World Bank compact on geothermal energy. The project in Ethiopia is the second to be initiated by ICEIDA following one in Rwanda. Ethiopia has geothermal potential of 5000 MW but only limited geothermal development has taken place so far.
The Government has now decided to prioritize geothermal development as a key area in energy development. This project follows this decision. The overall objective is to assist the Government to increase renewable energy production through low emission geothermal energy development for social and economic benefit. ICEIDA will, therefore, assist the implementing agencies with finalizing geothermal surface explorations and associated geophysical and geochemical studies to identify locations for drilling of exploration and production wells in target sites.
