African Rift Geothermal Facility (ARGeo)

First African Geothermal Conference in Ethiopia in 2006

Geothermal energy in the East African Rift

One major focus of GEOTHERM is the support of countries in the East African Rift Valley. More than 60 million people live in this region and could benefit from geothermal energy. Presently, the East African countries are largely reliant on fossil fuel and hydropower representing in total an installed capacity of 3 GW. These energy resources are subject to high operating costs and climate fluctuations. Therefore, the authorities in the region are committed to develop alternative energy sources, including geothermal. The geothermal energy potential in Africa’s Rift Valley using present-day technology is in the range of 2.5 to 6.5 GW. Despite these extensive geothermal resources in the African Rift region, only Kenya has started exploiting this renewable energy potential. In fact, institutional, regulatory and capacity barriers have so far hampered the systematic exploitation of this large indigenous and renewable energy resource in the African Rift region. High costs and risks of exploratory drilling are additional obstacles.

Project

In 2003, the six East African countries Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda decided to develop the African Rift Geothermal Development Facility (ARGeo) with support from UNEP, the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the German Government. ARGeo aims to accelerate geothermal energy investments by both public and private sectors. ARGeo activities include:

• Technical assistance including institutional strengthening, and
• Transaction advice fund to foster public investments in geothermal electricity production and private sector participation.

BGR’s contribution to ARGeo

GEOTHERM aims to initiate the development of geothermal sites in ARGeo countries and assists in the identification of subsequent geothermal energy investment. The detailed project concepts in the partner countries depend on the requirements of the specific country.

As a contribution to ARGeo the BGR supports the cooperation and exchange of know-how between the ARGeo countries, e.g.:

• Awareness raising of political decision makers and potential investors.
• ARGeo steering committee meetings

• Capacity development to enhance geo-scientific cooperation between ARGeo countries

Regional conferences for the exchange of know-how on a political and a technical level. BGR supported the First African Geothermal Conference in Ethiopia in 2006 and the participation of African counterparts to the ARGeo C2 conference in Uganda in 11/2008 and ARGeo C3 in Djibouti in 11/2010 respectively. BGR was present at ARGeo C4 in Nairobi as part of the steering committee as well as at ARGeo C5 10/2014.in Arusha/ Tanzania.