Nairobi, 07 December
2010 - The landscape around Navaisha town,
about an hour's drive from Kenya's capital,
Nairobi, is dotted with snaking smooth white
pipes and steel drums
rather like a modern day snakes-and-ladders
set built into the steep valley escarpments,
just below pockets of billowing steam floating
into the air.
Glance down towards the
expanding Olkaria Geothermal Power Station,
probably the world's only energy station
in a national park - Hell's Gate National
Park - and giraffes graze close to the fence,
seemingly unfazed by the noise and whirr
of electricity producing turbines.
Stored in the planet's
crust, geothermal energy is clean, it's
renewable, it can be tapped from around
the world and it could be big business in
Kenya. The source of Kenya's pot of energy
gold is the Great Rift Valley - a geographical
and geological feature running north to
south for around 4,000 miles (6,400 kilometres)
from northern Syria to central Mozambique
in East Africa. Astronauts say it is the
most significant physical detail on the
planet visible from space. It could also
be one of Africa's most important clean
energy sources for the twenty-first century.
Geothermal energy is
a century old technology. It is harnessed
from underground reservoirs, containing
hot rocks (250-350 degrees Celsius) saturated
with water and steam. Boreholes of up to
3000 metres are drilled into these reservoirs,
whereupon hot water and steam are then piped
up to a geothermal power plant and used
to drive electric generators to create power.
Kenya is on an ambitious
energy trajectory as part of its "Vision
2030" to generate a minimum of 3000
Megawatts in the next twenty years. Geothermal
will be a central pillar of this and judging
by the expansion plans already underway
for a fourth power plant (Olkaria IV) and
significant expansion of Olkaria I with
units IV and V, expected to be completed
by 2012, it could well be on track.
The expansion will bring
the output of power from the Olkaria power
plant from the current 150 MW up to 430
MW, or almost 40% of Kenya's annual requirement.
Some estimates say that Kenya boasts massive
geothermal potential, potentially as high
as 7,000 Megawatts. If Kenya continues on
the path to achieving its 2030 goals, it
could be the first African country to export
geothermal energy.
Importance of renewable
energy for a Green Economy
It is widely accepted
that the most important determinant in making
the transition to a Green Economy from the
wasteful, polluting and ultimately unsustainable
brown economy is energy - where we find
it, how we use it, how we recycle it.
The world, as a whole,
needs to be more efficient in its use of
energy - and needs to develop new, renewable
sources if we are to lessen an excessive
dependence on the fossil fuels - oil, gas
and coal. Expanded use of geothermal power
could be one major advance combining economic,
social and environmental benefits needed
for true sustainable development.
At a continental level,
the energy sector in most parts of Africa
is characterized by an acute energy crisis
due to high oil prices, persistent droughts
and unrivalled demand from unprecedented
population growth.
In turn, Kenya's energy
scene is dominated by two primary factors;
a predominant reliance on dwindling biomass
energy resource to meet the energy needs
of rural households and heavy dependence
on imported petroleum to meet modern economic
needs.
"Soon Kenya will
be able to meet half of its power requirement
through geothermal steam fields. Meanwhile,
it has shown all other countries of the
African Rift that geothermal power is a
competitive, reliable and environment friendly
solution," says Peerke de Bakker, UNEP
energy expert, Nairobi, Kenya.
Kenya recognizes geothermal
power as one sustainable form of indigenous
energy, all this set against a background
of diminishing prospects for exploitable
large hydropower resources and unstable
international hydrocarbon fuel prices.
Where to drill?
In a large landscape
with untapped resources deep underground,
finding the most productive areas to drill
can be a little like throwing a fishing
rod into the sea and hoping a large shoal
of fish will swim by.
With financial assistance
from the Global Environment Fund, UNEP worked
with the National Power Generation Utility
of Kenya (KenGen) on a Joint Geophysical
Imaging for Geothermal Reservoir Assessment
project finishing in 2009. The project aimed
to reduce the cost of renewable, nearly
CO2-free geothermal power in Kenya through
improved geophysical data, to more accurately
locate underground geothermal potential.
"UNEP has been
very instrumental in ensuring we get clean
energy with the GEF. The joint study revealing
the best well sites has minimized the expense
of where to drill. Initially, the wells
were shallow and low production (between
1 and 5 MW) but with UNEP's study we were
able to identify others that were much more
productive and now the average well is 3000
metres and produces between 5 and 15 MW,"
says Cyrus W. Karingithi, Assistant Manager,
Resource Development, KenGen.
As a result of the UNEP-GEF
Joint Geophysical Imaging (JGI) project,
it's estimated that the number of wells
needed to achieve 70MW could be 15 instead
of 30 or 33 wells, realizing savings of
approximately USD 5 million per well. The
JGI project has helped to significantly
decrease the cost of geothermal electricity
as well as increase well production and
reducing C02 emissions.
Scaling back
Olkaria Geothermal Power
Project is adjacent to farms that produce
some of the finest flowers in the world.
The "Oserian" flower farm makes
good use of geothermal energy from the less
productive, but already existing wells that
were drilled before the testing phase and
the UNEP/DGEF intervention.
Geothermal heat is not
only used to power the greenhouses but heated
air pushed through the vents acts as a natural
fungicide. Oserian's growing techniques
include hydroponics, geothermal heating
and CO2 enrichment along with natural pest
management using predatory mites that feed
on red spider mites.
"We aim to run
a farm that is solely operated on eco-friendly,
alternative energy sources leaving a carbon
free footprint. We currently operate the
largest geothermal greenhouse heating project
in the world combing geothermal heating
and carbon dioxide. Geothermal energy has
made a greener business, reduced the need
to farm more extensively and allow us to
release land back to conservation,"
says Hamish Ker, Oserian Production Director.
Where once were wheat
fields and flower farms, now wildlife roams
on a 20,000 acre conservancy and migrates
from Naivasha to Oserian and on to Hell's
Gate National Park through a 3,000 acre
game corridor. In 15 years, the land has
reverted to being bush and savannah. White
rhino, giraffe, zebra, buffalo, leopard
and a solitary male lion from the Nakuru
region are just some of the species now
integrated back into the landscape. Geothermal
energy, aside from supplying power is successfully
driving business and conservation, with
one feeding and supporting the other.
From micro to macro
Based on its extensive
expertise in geothermal power, KenGen has
already assisted neighbouring countries,
including Rwanda, Eritrea and Zambia in
the assessment and development of their
geothermal resources.
In addition and owing
to the successful completion of the JGI
project, UNEP in collaboration with the
World Bank has initiated a regional project
in six east African countries, Djibouti,
Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda
to tap into the Rift Valley's vast, unexplored
geothermal potential.
The African Rift Geothermal
project (ARGeo Project) is funded by a GEF
contribution of US$ 17.75 Million. This
programme now intends to provide a platform
for accelerated geothermal development and
stimulate geothermal investments in the
region.
Initial estimates indicate
that these investments could lead to 891,458
tons of CO2 emission savings per year and
up to 17.8 million tons over 20 years. Given
the demonstration and "snow-ball"
effect of the ARGeo project, it's expected
that these pilot projects will generate
yet more interest in geothermal technologies
in other countries of the Rift Valley (Sudan,
Rwanda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic
of Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, and Madagascar
and Yemen, on the Arabian side of the Rift).
This kind of innovation
is not only a boon for Africa, but also
attracts foreign expertise and investment.
During the exploratory drilling, KenGen
used local equipment but now uses the Great
Wall of China Drilling Company for deeper
and more efficient wells - another demonstration
of South South Cooperation.
Where could it lead
to?
Governments are meeting
in November in Cancun, Mexico for the next
round of UN climate negotiations. Current
commitments and pledges under the Copenhagen
Accord covering emissions up to 2020 provide
a good platform for global action, but the
level of current ambition is widely viewed
as insufficient to meet a 2 degree warming
limit.
Geothermal expansion
is just one of the many ways in which we
can meet the climate change. Clean energy
is about powering the future, providing
jobs, industry and opportunities. The challenge
is now is to accelerate and scale-up these
world-wide transitions.
The Cradle of Civilisation,
the Great Rift Valley, is where humanity
took is first faltering steps. Today it
can play a critical role to assist with
humanity's most overarching challenge: how
to break the cycle of plunder and pollute.
Projects like this could be a foundation
upon which a zero- emission East Africa
-with increasing access to energy and development
opportunities for millions of people can
be built.
Editors Notes
The ARGeo project has
been supported by various stakeholders including
the participating governments and their
utilities and agencies, and multilateral
and bilateral institutions such as the World
Bank, UNEP, IGA, ICEIDA (Icelandic International
Development Agency), BGR (German Federal
Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources),
USTDA, USDOE, etc. In particular, the Bank
and UNEP will jointly implement the program;
with the Bank focusing on the Risk Mitigation
Facility (RMF) and post exploration drilling
activities and UNEP on technical assistance
with emphasis on regional knowledge sharing
and technical assistance for the upstream
pre-drilling stage.
