Poznan, 9 December 2008
- A century-old energy technology that taps
steam from hot underground rocks is poised
for a massive expansion up East Africa's
Rift Valley in the 21st century.
The news comes as countries
across the world, from Guatemala to Papua
New Guinea, are beginning to plug into geothermal
energy as a new and promising alternative
to coal and oil-fired power generation.
Today the United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Global
Environment Facility (GEF) announced the
completion of project testing advanced seismic
and drilling techniques in Kenya that has
exceeded all expectations.
Wells of steam, able
to generate 4-5 MW of electricity and one
yielding a bumper amount of 8MW, have been
hit using the new technology.
It could mean a saving
of as much as $75 million for the developer
of a 70MW installation as well as reduced
electricity costs for generators and consumers,
experts estimate.
The results, announced
at the UN climate convention conference
in Poznan, Poland have now paved the way
for an international effort in 2009 to expand
geothermal up and down the Rift which runs
from Mozambique in the South to Djibouti
in the North.
The project, funded
by the GEF and involving UNEP and the Kenyan
power company KenGen, could also transform
the prospects and costs for geothermal elsewhere
in the world.
Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary
General and UNEP Executive Director, said:
"Combating climate change while simultaneously
getting energy to the two billion people
without access to it are among the central
challenges of this generation. Geothermal
is 100 per cent indigenous, environmentally-friendly
and a technology that has been under-utilized
for too long".
"There are least
4,000MW of electricity ready for harvesting
along the Rift. It is time to take this
technology off the back burner in order
to power livelihoods, fuel development and
reduce dependence on polluting and unpredictable
fossil fuels. From the place where human-kind
too its first faltering steps is emerging
one of the answers to its continued survival
on this planet," he added.
Monique Barbut, Chief
Executive Officer and Chairperson of the
GEF, said: "Overcoming the economic
and technical hurdles to renewable energy
generation is part of our shared responsibility.
The work in the Rift Valley is demonstrating
that geothermal is not only technologically
viable but cost effective for countries
in Africa where there an overall potential
of at least 7,000MW".
"Indeed geothermal
world-wide is undergoing a renaissance with
the numbers of countries starting to use
this power source estimated to rise from
around 20 in 2000 to close to 50 by 2010.
Africa's Rift Valley will I hope become
a beacon for further geothermal acceleration
in terms of the size and the number of power
plants alongside its geographical spread
across the developed and developing world".
The Project in Kenya
The GEF-funded project
has, over the past three years used techniques
known as Micro Seismic and Magneto Telluric
surveys and studies for identifying promising
new drilling sites at locations including
Olkaria, Naivasha which is around one hour's
drive from the capital Nairobi.
Here a geothermal plant
generating 45MW has been operating for a
quarter century. A second plant was brought
on stream in 2000 with a capacity of 70
MW.
The main challenge to
expansion in Kenya and elsewhere along the
Rift has been the risk associated with drilling
and the high costs if steam is missed.
The nearly $1million
Joint Geophysical Imaging project has aimed
to overcome these risks. The old wells in
Naivasha generate about two MW whereas the
new techniques have not only boosted the
chances of hitting steam but have pinpointed
wells of much higher potential, typically
on average four to five MW.
Rift Geothermal Expansion
Two years ago the GEF
Council approved the Africa Rift Valley
Geothermal Development Facility (ARGeo)
backed with close to $18 million of funding
and involving UNEP and the World Bank.
The project, which will
underwrite the risks of drilling in Djibouti,
Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania,
is now set to commence in early 2009 and
will be able to call on the equipment and
techniques piloted by KenGen and UNEP.
The ARGeo initiative
has strong support from Iceland, one of
the world's leading geothermal economies
where well over 90 per cent of its electricity
comes from 'hot rock' and hydro, as well
as Germany which is also developing this
energy technology.
Separately Kenya and
private investors are also seeking support
funding from the Clean Development Mechanism
(CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol for a further
35MW extension which is currently in the
validation stage.
Kenya's current electricity
capacity is around 1,000MW. The country
relies heavily on hydro-electric plants,
generation systems that have in recent years
suffered as a result of low rainfall and
water supplies.
The country has set
itself a goal of generating 1,200MW from
geothermal by 2015.
A contract has recently
been awarded to a Chinese company to drill
as part of the development of a new Olkaria
IV plant. As a result of the UNEP-GEF Joint
Geophysical Imaging project the number of
wells likely to be needed to achieve 70MW
could be 15 versus over 30 using the previous
technology. This could save as much as $5
million for each well drilled.
UNEP-GEF is currently
in discussions with the Ministry of Water
and Environment o the Yemen to explore for
geothermal there in early 2009.
More countries in the
region with geothermal resources have also
signalled their enthusiasm to participate
in the geothermal expansion including the
Comoro Islands, the Democratic Republic
of the Congo and Rwanda.
Notes to Editors
Global Geothermal
Over 12 new geothermal projects are in the
pipeline or have been registered under the
CDM according to an analysis by UNEP's Risoe
energy centre in Denmark.
These include two in
El Salvador, totalling close to 50MW; one
in Guatemala for 25MW; four in Indonesia
totalling 200MW; Nicaragua, 66MW; Papua
New Guinea, 55MW and two in the Philippines
totalling 60MW.
Estimates by the Earth
Policy Institute in Washington indicate
that globally, geothermal capacity rose
from 1,300MW in 1975 to close to 8,000MW
in 2000 and stood at almost 10,000MW in
2007. The institute estimates that by 2010,
geothermal capacity could have reached 13,500MW.
The United States is
the world leader in terms of capacity with
around 3,000MW followed by the Philippines
with close to 2,000MW followed by Indonesia
with 1,000MW.
A separate study in
the GHC Bulletin from September 2007 estimates
that geothermal could grow by 900 per cent
in Papua New Guinea; over 100 per cent in
Iceland and by 90 per cent in Turkey.
A new and separate assessment
coordinated by the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology indicates that the United
States could provide a significant slice
of its base-load electricity from geothermal.
It says that the US
has enough geothermal potential to generate
100,000 MW (100 GW) of base-load electricity
by 2050 by investing in enhanced geothermal
systems.
Current total energy
generation in the US is somewhere under
1,000GW of which between 0.23 per cent to
0.4 per cent is estimated to be geothermal
according to various sources..
The report says that
there is a widely-held view that high, exploitable
levels of geothermal resources do not exist
in the US.
But the report says:
"Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS)
represent a large, indigenous resource that
can provide base-load electric power and
heat at a level that can have a major impact
on the United States while incurring minimal
environmental impacts".
Combined public and private investment of
$800 million to a $1 billion is needed over
15 year-period needed to get it up and running
commercially and to realize 100GW by 2050.
Somewhere over $200 million of this is needed
to achieve a break even point with coal.
This is equal to total
Research and Development in the past 30
years globally on EGS and still less than
the cost of a single, new generation, clean-coal
power plant.
Nick Nuttall, UNEP Spokesperson/Head of
Media
