Regional Project: Geothermal Energy – East Africa

Country / Region: Africa / Supraregional
Focus: Geothermal energy              

Begin of project: August 1, 2016

End of project: July 31, 2021

Status of project: July 31, 2021

The geothermal power plant "Aluto Langano" is located in the Rift valley on the Ethiopian highland Source: BGR

Rising demand – insufficient capacities

In many countries of the African Union, demand for electricity is steadily rising. Often this demand cannot be covered everywhere and often leads to extreme shortages in power supply in sub-Saharan Africa, where generation capacities are inadequate and there is a high dependency on hydropower, especially in the dry season.

Hence, many countries are expanding and diversifying their power generation capacities. Geothermal energy as a base load capable technology with low operating costs can play an important role here.

Unused potential for energy supply 

Although many African countries along the East African Rift Valley have geothermal potential – it is estimated to be around 15,000 MW – it has not been used much for electricity generation.

Introducing geothermal power into the energy mix comes with a range of challenges, e.g. lack of awareness among policy makers, the high initial costs and financial risks during the exploration phase, and the lack of appropriate risk mitigation funds for exploratory drilling in order to attract private investors, missing or insufficient regulatory and institutional frameworks, and inadequate technical capacities in identifying and exploring geothermal sites.

The BGR Team visits Ethiopia’s first geothermal power plant "Aluto Langano" Source: BGR

The project

The project Geothermal Energy East Africa supports partner countries along the East African Rift Valley in making significant progress in valorising their high potential for electricity generation from geothermal sources. The aim of the project is to improve technical and institutional capacities, foundations of regulatory decision-making and technical information basis for geothermal energy use in partner countries and to promote investment in geothermal plants.

African Union Practice Guide for Geothermal Drilling

Together with the African Union and Geological Services of East African Countries, BGR developed the African Union Code of Practice for Geothermal Drilling. The Guide contains proven standards and practices of today's drilling industry and has been specifically designed for geothermal drilling in East Africa. The code covers the drilling, operation, repair, and decommissioning of deep geothermal wells. It includes all subsurface work plus the wellhead up to the top of the master valve.

This Code of Practice was published in English and French, and is available for download:

Partner

The regional project partner is the African Union Commission (AUC).

The current focus of the cooperation is on Djibouti. The project provides practical training for the partner organisation Office Djiboutien de developpement de l'energie geothermique (ODDEG) and supports the optimisation of exploration methods, data collection and data processing in order to identify and evaluate geothermal resources.

Project contributions:

• Technical Cooperation Geothermal Energy East Africa - Regional Project
• Technical cooperation in East Africa: Contribution of remote sensing unit