11 March 2014, Addis Ababa – Ethiopia and Kenya have received five million dollars grant from the Geothermal Risk Mitigation Facility for Eastern Africa to develop geothermal energy, the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) said.
Tewodros Gebre-Egziabher, state minister for Mines and Infrastructure & Energy commissioner with the African Union (AU), Elham Ibrahim (PhD) signed the agreement.
Ethiopia, 90pc of whose energy comes from the hydro- power, also secured another grant of nearly one million dollars to conduct a study in the Dofan and Cobetti areas in the north of the country. It is also set to sign additional 5.6 million dollars agreement with the Facility shortly to develop a 300Mw project. The State minister said Ethiopia has the potential to generate 10,000 Mw from geothermal energy. It has identified 22 potential areas.
The commissioner on his part explained that the AU is now processing the applications of 11 countries for the Facility. The Geothermal Risk Mitigation Facility was established in 2009 to encourage public and private investors as well as public private partnerships to develop geothermal prospects for power generation in Eastern Africa by providing grants.The Facility provides grant for surface studies to determine the optimal location of reservoir confirmation wells and drilling and testing of reservoir confirmation wells.
– Addis Fortune
