GDC, Empakaa to receive AU funds for geothermal wells projects

The State-owned, Geothermal Development Company (GDC) and private firm Empakaa Energy are the two Kenyan energy firms that have been picked among finalists to receive funding to develop geothermal wells in Kenya by the African Union-backed Geothermal Risk Mitigation Facility for East Africa (GRMF).

The two companies had sought funding support for drilling and infrastructure of wells in the country. GRMF, set up in 2012 by the African Union Commission (AUC), said the two Kenyan firms alongside four others from Djibouti and Tanzania will get cumulative funding of US $15.6 million (Sh1.7 billion) to support their energy projects.

Read: Construction of Aluto-Langano geothermal project in Ethiopia in track

GRMF’s key mandate

“The results of the 6th GRMF Application Round show the great development of the East African geothermal market and the increasing number of active market players. With more and more successfully implemented projects and a growing project pipeline, we are moving closer and closer to the goal of the programme: an increased usage of geothermal energy in East Africa. We are therefore also looking forward to a high level of participation in the seventh GRMF application round,” said Atef Marzouk, Acting Director AUC-Infrastructure and Energy Department.

GRMF’s key mandate is to encourage development of geothermal energy sources in East Africa by removing the high upfront costs associated with infrastructure development in greenfield projects and initial exploratory drilling in geothermal fields given that a geothermal well costs about Sh650 million to drill.

Kenya has a high geothermal resource potential of around 10,000MW, with most of it in the Olkaria fields in Naivasha along the Rift Valley. The country has pushed hard to harness its geothermal capabilities. This has seen it grow from generating just 45MW of geothermal power in 1985 to the current installed geothermal capacity of 860MW.