Regional Workshop on Geothermal Financing and Risk Mitigation in Africa

The countries along the African Rift System are endowed with significant, but largely untapped, geothermal resources. As of today, only 0.6 GW of geothermal capacity is installed in the region. However, with a large estimated potential and an ever-accelerating interest in geothermal energy, the region can soon become one of the world’s fastest growing geothermal markets.

So far Kenya has been the epicenter of geothermal developments in the region. Ethiopia, with a pilot project installed, is the second African country with a geothermal power plant in operation. However, more projects are expected to come into operation in Ethiopia and Djibouti shortly and exploration for high and medium temperature geothermal resources has also been initiated in Burundi, Comoros Islands, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.

The workshop gathered participants from governments, utilities, public and private companies as well as international, regional, and local financial institutions. The event allowed to assess the geothermal market status in East Africa, identify the main options to overcome the barriers that countries and project developers still face in the region, share best practices and innovative models to finance operations, including geothermal risk mitigation mechanisms, and explore how technical assistance can effectively support the scaling up of geothermal energy in the region.

Outcome paper

Agenda

Presentations

Session I

Geothermal Outlook in East Africa — Peter Omenda, International Geothermal Association

Geothermal transparency guide, Regulatory frameworks for geothermal exploration and exploitation — Baldvin Björn Haraldsson, BBA

Enabling investment in geothermal power in East Africa: Lessons learnt from the EAGER Facility — David Sussman, East Africa Geothermal Energy (EAGER) Facility

Reykjavik Geothermal Project Development: Lessons learnt and take away — Jon Orn Jonsson, Reykjavik Geothermal

Comparative Analysis of Approaches to Geothermal Resource Risk Mitigation — Thrainn Fridriksson, World Bank, ESMAP/World Bank

Geothermal Risk Mitigation Fund (GRMF) in East Africa — Rashid Ali Abdallah, African Union Commission

Roles and Activities of JOGMEC for the Geothermal Development in Japan —Hisanori Ogawa, Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation (JOGMEC)

Innovative risk finance solutions – Insights for geothermal power development in Kenya and Ethiopia — Julian Richardson, Parhelion

JICA's Cooperation in Geothermal Development — Satoshi Sugimoto, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)

Working to enable Private Sector to develop early stage infrastructure projects — Bertrand Belben, InfraCo Africa

Session VI

Geothermal Project Development and Technical Support: New Zealand - Africa Geothermal Facility — Markos Melaku, NZ-Africa Geothermal Facility

IRENA Project Facilitation Tools — Tijana Radojicic, IRENA

Status of resource assessment in Egypt — Tamer Mohamed Abdel Kader, New and Renewable Energy Authority of Egypt

Geothermal exploration and development in Kenya — Cyrus Karingithi, KenGen