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$2.7m Project to Boost Geothermal Power SupplyThe East African (Nairobi)February 23, 2004 Posted to the web February 25, 2004 John Mbaria, Special Correspondent Nairobi Studies on the country's geothermal energy show that Rift Valley has a potential for more that 2,000 MW KENYA HAS embarked on an ambitious Ksh208 million ($2,733,323) geothermal project to explore new sites in Rift Valley Province to boost the country's power supply. The project, which is part of a wider $250 million (Ksh19 billion) East African project, has seen a series of exploratory tests being carried out at the Menengai Crater in Nakuru, 200 km northwest of Nairobi, since mid-January. The experiments are expected to end by July 30. Kenya currently produces 121 megawatts of power from Olkaria and Eburu geothermal stations on the outskirts of Naivasha town, 100 km west of Nairobi, with Olkaria contributing 45 MW and Olkaria II 64 mw. But this production level is expected to soar if the exploration yields positive results. According to the Kenya Electricity Generating Company's geothermal development manager, Dr Silas Simiyu, the exploration's latter phases will cover Mt Longonot, and from the Paka and Silale areas near Lake Baringo all the way to Lake Turkana. "Once the entire project is complete, KenGen will embark on drilling wells, field development and eventual installation of the power plants," he said. The firm expects to eventually produce 2,000 MW from all the sources. The project has brought together a number of multi- and bilateral agencies, including the Global Environment Facility (GEF), which has contributed $37 million, the Federal Institute for Geo-sciences and Natural Resources of Germany, which has donated one million euros and KFW Bank of Germany, whose $150-million Trust Fund will be used to underwrite the drilling cost. The US Trade and Development Agency, the Italian and Icelandic governments and the African Development Bank have also pledged financial support. "The wider project was signed two weeks ago and the regional participants will have their first meeting in Djibouti on March 1," said the head of media services at Unep, Nick Nuttall. The meeting, he said, will involve information exchange, discuss personnel training and how to share the drilling equipment. KenGen has already received $979,059 from the GEF as part of the $2,733,323 for the exploration. The fund is being administered by Unep. GEF is a multi-billion dollar fund set up after the Rio Summit in 1992 to enable developing countries to offset the extra cost of complying with international demands for a cleaner and safer environment. Dr Simiyu said that KenGen hopes to make geothermal the single largest source of power in the country. Officially known as the Joint Geophysical Imaging (JGI) Methodology for Geothermal Reservoir Assessment, the project's proposal was prepared by Unep, whose staff have also been providing technical and administrative advice in the project. Also involved in the exploration is Duke University of the US. According to the Draft National Energy Policy, released last week by the Ministry of Energy, studies on the country's geothermal energy show that Rift Valley has a potential of more than 2,000 MW, which can be exploited for generation of electricity using conventional methods for at least 20 years. However, the report says that the potential may exceed the estimate if binary generation systems are used concurrently with the conventional systems. Currently, only 121 MW of the estimated geothermal potential has been developed, accounting for about 10 per cent of the total installed generating capacity. KenGen owns 109 MW of the capacity and an independent power producer 12 MW. The three plants are located in the Olkaria geothermal field. A potential site for Olkaria IV, with a capacity of 70 MW has been identified and plans for full appraisal of the steam fields are in progress through budgetary support by the government. Kenya is considered a leader in geothermal technology in the region and has assisted both Ethiopia and Uganda to set up geothermal power stations. The ongoing exploration in the volcanic sites involves the use of seismic surveys, magneto-tellurics, transient electromagnetics and gravimetry, which experts say are able to "seek and identify geological hot spots" or places with viable geothermal potential. Experiments so far carried out indicate that there is a high probability of finding "large productive steam reservoirs in highly permeable formations" in many of the areas under investigations. The objective of the East Africa project is to reduce the overall cost of power and help the countries in the region switch to the less capital-intensive and environmentally-cleaner geothermal power. The Kenyan project marks the first stage of a blueprint drawn up at a regional energy conference held in Nairobi last April, which sought to increase the amount of electricity generated from "hot rocks" in East Africa. During the meeting, participants set for themselves the "challenging yet achievable target" of developing 1,000 MW of geothermal across East Africa by 2020. The meeting, which sought to overcome some of the technological and financial hurdles that stand in the way of geothermal power development, acknowledged the role that geothermal energy plays in ensuring a cleaner environment and its suitability since, unlike hydro-electricity, it is not vulnerable to droughts, or unpredictable price fluctuations as is often the case with oil-fired power generation. It brought together delegates from Comoros Islands, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia, who pledged to share expertise to reduce development costs, promote public-private partnerships to accelerate geothermal development in the region and lobby donor governments and agencies for increased funding of geothermal projects. http://allafrica.com/stories/200402250066.html Go to Source of article |