|
|
Plans to boost geothermal power
East African countries have put in place plans to dramatically increase
electricity generated from "hot rocks" by 2020.
The plans to boost the region's geothermal energy capacity were drawn up at a
key meeting of experts at the headquarters of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP)
in Nairobi, Kenya.
During the meeting, government experts, scientists, engineers and private sector
representatives from 10 countries in the region set a "challenging yet
achievable target" to develop 1,000 MW of geothermal power across East
Africa. This is equivalent to the electricity needs of several million people in
the region by 2020, UNEP said in a statement.
The experts, from the Comoros Islands, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya,
Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia, stressed that geothermal energy was
environmentally clean and, unlike hydro-electricity, was not vulnerable to
droughts.
"It also is not prone to unpredictable price fluctuations as can be the
case with oil-fired power generation," the statement added.
Geothermal technology, which harnesses steam produced by hot rocks deep in the
earth to generate electricity, is considered to be a promising form of renewable
energy, whose potential - particularly in the Great Rift Valley region - had
until now remained largely untapped, UNEP added.
[This Item is Delivered to the "Africa-English" Service of the UN's
IRIN
humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views
of the United Nations. Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs 2003]
|
