The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in conjunction with ICEIDA and IGE-East African Regional Branch organized an African side event, called WGC 2015 Side Event, in Melbourne, Australia on the 22nd of April from 12:00 – 14:00hrs

This African side event was organized back to back with the World Geothermal Congress (WGC) 2015 that was held in Melbourne, Australia from the 19th – 24th April. The WGC brought together members of the geothermal community across the globe and offered a great opportunity for them to share ideas and knowledge covering geothermal development worldwide.

The Project Manager of African Rift Geothermal Development Facility (ARGeo) project, Meseret Zemedkun, gave an update on geothermal development in Africa. She talked about the existing support programmes available and emphasized on the required synergy among the countries in order to maximize the benefit for transition to clean, sustainable and more resilient growth.

This event, the first of its kind, gave a chance to the African countries to showcase success stories of geothermal development in their countries as well as a comprehensive update on geothermal development in Africa. It was revealed that harmonization and coordination of various geothermal programs in the region will contribute significantly to accelerated resource development by reducing costs and increasing efficiency. It was also agreed that adopting a regional resource development approach as a strategy is essential in acceleration of utilization as well as increased benefits. There were ample networking opportunities with worldwide leading geothermal experts which was essential in the establishment of public private partnerships within the sector.

Success Stories

Participants

Objective

Newsletter

• • (1) Three fold increase in generation of power from geothermal energy in Africa (Kenya) for the last five years: i.e. Generation of about 628 MWe in 2015 compared to generation's of 260 Mwe in 2010 .
  • (2) A significant increase in regional and national geothermal support programmes in the region that assists countries to fast track geothermal development in the region for the last five years : i.e. UNEP ARGeo programme, AUC-KfW GRMF, ICEIDA Regional geothermal programme, German Federal institute of geosciences and Natural resources (BGR)
  • (3) Interest of public and private developers increased in the last five years: (I) Reykjavik Geothermal, (ii) Cluff (iii) Marine Power....
  • (4) A formation of Regional Geothermal informational Database (AGID)
  • (5) A big milestone to set up the African Geothermal Center of Excellence in the continent.

• The African side event was attended by about 120 participants, who were representatives from the various support programmes like ICEIDA, JICA, EAGP, World Bank, JICA, DFID, USAID among others; African Member countries like Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, Congo DRC, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, among others; representatives from the private development companies like Reykjavik Geothermal, Ormat, Cluff Geothermal; IGA president and chairpersons; representatives of Geothermal Industries and companies like ISOR, GDA, EFLA as well as senior Experts and scientists who have worked/currently working in Africa.
• The main objective of the event was to showcase available solutions for rapid geothermal development in Africa.

• Please click on the links below...

  WGC- African Side Event Booklet

  WGC- African Side Event Newsletter