The successful completion of a pilot project in Kenya has opened the way for exploitation of some 4,000 megawatts (MW) of geothermal energy that are thought to be available in the East African Rift Valley (pictured).
The project, funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), used advanced drilling and seismic techniques to dig 18 cost-effective steam wells, each generating around 4–5 MW of electricity. The results of the pilot project were announced at last week's UN Climate Change Conference in Poznań, Poland.
The African Rift Geothermal Development Facility (ARGeo), an intergovernmental project that will kick off in 2009, will underwrite private drilling operations in Kenya and several neighbouring nations. ARGeo is backed by US$18 million from the GEF, the UN Environment Programme and the World Bank. Kenya has set a goal of generating 1,200 MW of geothermal electricity by 2015.
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Rift-valley countries set for geothermal power. Nature 456, 853 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/456853b
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/456853b
