GEOTHERM Programme – Promoting the Use of Geothermal Energy (Phase II)

Country / Region: Superregional sector project / worldwide
Focal point: Renewable Energy

Begin of project: August 1, 2009

End of project: January 31, 2017

Status of project: May 8, 2018

The 45 MW geothermal power plant Olkaria I in Kenya was put into operation in 1981. It was the first power station of this kind in Africa Source: BGR

The Programme „Geotherm II – promoting geothermal development through capacity building and political advice” is executed by the BGR and KfW on behalf of the BMZ. The programme´s current focus is to explore the potential of geothermal energy in East Africa. The concentration is on areas with favorable geological conditions which are located in the high enthalpy region of the East African Rift System.

The majority of the East African countries highly depend on hydro and thermal power generation to cover their national electricity needs. Climate change and the rising price of fossil fuels have a direct measurable impact on the availability of power (droughts) and costs (tariffs). Consequently all sectors including; the agricultural, the household and industrial sectors, suffer from frequent load shedding and high energy costs that effect the overall socio-economic development of the countries. Geothermal energy as climate-independent, endemic and renewable source of base-load power offers a solution to mitigate such effects. However, especially the high potential countries face a wide range of barriers when introducing geothermal power to national energy mix, e.g. lack of capacity in identifying and exploring geothermal sites, missing or insufficient regulatory, legal and institutional framework conditions and, the lack of appropriate risk mitigation funds for exploratory drilling in order to attract private investors.

Geotherm II aims at overcoming the barriers by strengthening the institutional capacity within the Geothermal sub-sector in order to provide a conducive environment for private sector investments. The overall objective in this programme is therefore: “East African Partner countries gain public and private investors for developing their geothermal resources”. The objective of BGR’s part is "Partner Countries use available support programmes in order to reduce the financial risk of exploratory drilling". Consequently the programme supports the development of an environmentally friendly and reliable electricity supply boosting the overall socio-economic development of the countries.

The indicators that measure the programme´s successful implementation include for example the level of access to financial support mechanisms for private investors and the political will of partner countries to include geothermal energy within their national energy mix.

The programme builds upon experiences from GEOTHERM I which was implemented by the BGR on behalf of the BMZ between 2002 and 2009 on a global scale.

For more information, please have a look at our webpage.

Project contributions:

• Bodenbewegungsdatenanalyse am Paka Vulkan in Kenia
• Flugzeuggestützte Thermal-Fernerkundung als Beitrag zur geothermalen Exploration (GEOTHERM-Programm, Menengai Prospekt, Kenia)
• Thermalfernerkundung am Silali Vulkan in Kenia