Existing and Future trends in geothermal
energy in Ethiopia
By Bereket Gebru 10/11/13
The major objective of the energy sector, as
stated in the Scaling-up Renewable Energy Program (SREP), during the existing 5
year Growth and Transformation Plan period (GTP) and beyond is to meet the
demand for energy in the country by providing sufficient and reliable power
supply that meets international standards at all times. This objective will be
achieved by accelerating and completing the construction of hydroelectric power
and other renewable energy generation projects, expanding and strengthening the
existing transmission and distribution lines to provide improved access to
rural villages all over the country. An additional objective is to export power
to the neighboring countries. Modernizing the distribution system will also be
considered, so as to reduce power losses to international benchmark levels.
Future demand for energy is,
expectedly, projected to grow exponentially. As a result of the double digit
economic growth of the last decade and the considerable population surge,
Ethiopia has been experiencing increased energy consumption and unmet demand
over the last few years. In the Climate-Resilient Green
Economy (CRGE) initiative that has been launched in Ethiopia and also during
the COP17 Meeting in Durban, South Africa, a demand forecast has been prepared.
The forecast is based on GDP data, sectoral energy consumption intensities, and
projections of the potential for increasing energy efficiency. Accordingly, total
power demand is projected to grow from 4 TWh in 2010 to a maximum of nearly 70
TWh in 2030. The steep increase in demand (14% per annum) reflects both the
growing electrification of the country – the target for 2020 is to expand
access to grid connection to nearly 100% of the country (measured in area
coverage) – and rapid growth of electricity-intensive industries – projected at
a rate of more than 15% a year, outpacing even the overall GDP growth rate.
When specific energy efficiency measures are factored into the forecast the
demand requirement will be limited to 50 TWh in 2030, which still represents a
more than tenfold increase over today’s demand.
The development of major hydro-electric
power generation projects in the country has taken up the centre stage of all
the efforts to keep up with this tremendous projected surge in demand.
Diversifying the sources of energy and exploiting the potentials of every
energy source should also be given the due attention they deserve. Development
of alternative energy from renewable sources such as wind, geothermal, solar,
biomass as well as energy efficiency measures will be a key part of Ethiopia’s
energy mix and integrated with the country’s new Climate Resilient Green
Economy (CRGE) Strategy, which has the ambitious objective of transforming
Ethiopia into climate resilient green economy by 2025. The development of
renewable energy resources, therefore, helps contribute to the availability of
more consumable energy in the country besides aiding the realization of the
country’s goal of becoming a carbon-neutral economy by 2025.
Some of the renewable energy
related goals of the Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP) include:- increasing
households supplied with at least one kind of modern, efficient and renewable
energy source/technology from 16% to 80%, electrifying more than 1,500 towns
and villages, disseminating more than 3 million solar lanterns and 9 million
efficient cook stoves with the assistance of development partners like AfDB, WB
and others.
Harnessing renewable energy
from various sources clearly paves the way for the realization of some of the
renewable energy related goals. Out of the 10,000 MW of electricity planned to
be generated by the end of the GTP period (2015), 9,000 MW is expected from
hydro power while wind, geothermal and solar energy contribute 890, 75 and 30
MWs respectively.
Geothermal energy is a renewable energy source
that taps heat stored in the earth to drive turbines that generate power. The
resource is much more reliable than other renewable resources (hydro, wind and
solar) as it is not affected by seasonality. Experts in the field contend that
geothermal power plants also need less space than hydropower and wind energy
plants, fewer people need to be displaced by their construction, which
strengthens the case for the sustainability and feasibility of geothermal
power. Accordingly, there have been various activities towards harnessing the
resource in Ethiopia for a long time now.
Studies
at various exploration phases have been carried out since 1969. Although these
studies have indicated the country’s great geothermal energy potential,
financial constraints and the lack of skilled manpower have stood in the way of
realizing that potential. The development of geothermal resources involves
drilling up to three kilometers of the earth’s crust. That is both very
expensive and technologically difficult. Compounded with the shortage of
qualified personnel in the field, some sources indicate, it is more costly to
produce electricity from geothermal sources than from hydro and wind – although
geothermal energy is cheaper to produce than solar energy in Ethiopia. The
technology is also credited for being easily scalable and can generate
electricity from very small units up to very large ones, enabling it to be used
under various circumstances.
Under a program
that began in 1969, geo-scientific studies have been conducted in a number of
Ethiopian fields and over sixteen areas have been identified to have geothermal
resources suitable for electricity generation in the Ethiopian Rift Valley.
From these areas deep drilling has been undertaken in Aluto Langano and Tendaho
and detailed surface exploration has been nearly completed in four other areas.
The rest ten areas are at a first stage of surface exploration. The six
candidate geothermal power projects for investment in our country are:-
1. Aluto Langano power plant (75mw)
2. Tendaho (100mw)
3. Corbeti (75mw)
4. Abaya (100mw)
5. Tulu Moye (40mw)
6. Dofan (50mw)
The total power
generated from the six candidate power projects is projected to be 440mw. The
Scaling-up Renewable Energy Program (SREP) states that geothermal power will
help to diversify the Ethiopian energy mix and provide valuable base load
capacity at low cost and with limited environmental impact. It is estimated
that some 5,000 MW of resources are available, and the Government is seeking to
develop 1,000 MW of this by 2030.
Sadly, it was only in 2012 that
the country started to generate the first 7.3 mw from the pilot project of the
Aluto Langano power plant which is being upgraded to a full scale project of 75
mw. Despite the notably high geothermal energy production potential of
Ethiopia, the country currently produces only 7.3 MW of electricity from the
renewable energy resource. With upgrading activities scheduled for completion
over the Aluto-Langano geothermal power project that produces the 7.3 MW by the
end of the Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP) in 2015, the figure is expected
to grow to 75 MW. That figure, however, still stands negligible when compared
to the 5,000 MW generating potential of the country. In Ethiopia’s defense
though, a lot is in the pipelines to change the situation and tap from that
huge potential.
The plans for the Aluto Langano
expansion project are two pronged with the first concentrating on upgrading the
capacity to 75mw with a projected cost of 229.2 million during the 2012-16
period. The other section of the plan deals with the design of a long-term
strategy for the geothermal sector. The SREP document states that it will be
important to explore and understand the options, including what has worked and
why, and then outline a path forward for the country as Ethiopia considers how
to expand its geothermal capacity beyond the 75 mw at Aluto Langano. This route
involves the development of a sector strategy that focuses on clearly defining
options for how geothermal assets can be developed, including leveraging the
private sector strategically as a source of expertise, project management,
equipment supplying and investment and financing. Furthermore, the plan
emphasizes the need to ensure that future projects are bankable and that
requisite business skills are built in relevant institutions.
The Tendaho
Geothermal Field, on the other hand, is located in Dubti Wereda (district),
Afar region in the Northeast part of Ethiopia, around 600 kilometers from Addis
Ababa. The project is tipped of having a capacity of 100mw with a projected
project cost of about 320 million USD. The Tendaho power plant is set to be
commissioned in 2016.
The biggest step in
the sector yet, not only for Ethiopia but also for the whole of Africa as well,
comes in the form of the 1,000 MW geothermal power plant set to be built in the
coming ten years. The U.S-Icelandic geothermal development company, Reykjavik
Geothermal (RG) has agreed to develop the renewable resource in Corbetti
Caldera. Upon completion, the single power plant project is expected to be one
of the world’s largest geothermal power plants.
Reykjavik
Geothermal, a company that has helped build power plants in about 30 countries
globally expects to invest $4 billion over an 8-10 years period. The geothermal
development company will build and operate up to 1000Megawatts of geothermal in
two 500MW phases. While the first 10MW of power will be online in 2015 with an
additional 100MW in 2016; the full 500MW will be operational in 2018. Ethiopian
Electric Power Corp. has agreed to buy all the electricity under a 25-year
contract. It has been working with Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPCO)
and various government ministries for the past two years to finalize the
purchase agreement.
The
responsible authorities in the field, EEPCo and the Ministry of Mines and
energy, state that the main task they are undertaking nowadays is making the
potential sites for geothermal energy development ready for investment. The
direction taken by the authorities is that the big money needed to carry out
such projects cannot be covered by the government alone – the introduction of
private sector investment would help us reap the benefits much sooner. As
clearly put by Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn “The job cannot be done by
public investment alone; we will need to partner with private sector… from that
perspective, this 1,000 MW deal with RG is not that large – but it’s a great
start.”
In this
sector, the government’s main plan is to create conducive
environment for private investors to participate in exploring and developing
the mineral resources by gathering, compiling and interpreting basic
geo-science information to deliver to the customers. Geo-science
data has enormous importance for agriculture, urbanization, industrial
development, construction, energy and other undertakings. By increasing the
coverage and quality of geo-science data and availing it to
potential
customers, exploration and development of geothermal
resources can be accelerated. Besides providing
information by conducting detail mineral exploration and investigation, it also
designs
policies, laws and new regulations that create conductive
environment for the development of the sector.
Accordingly,
the Ministry of mines and energy has plans to enhance pre-deep well drilling
geothermal detail study coverage at a scale of 1:20,000 from 6.2% in 2009 to
68.2% in 2015. It also aims at raising geothermal drilling from 10,000m in
2009/10 to 20,000m per year by 2015.
Considering
Ethiopia has tremendous geothermal power generation potential from its Afar and
Great East African Rift Valleys, there needs more to be done to make the best
out of it. Further considering Kenya, with much less geothermal resources,
produces 300 MW from geothermal sources, Ethiopia needs to push itself to the
limits to realize its potential.
As so
eloquently put by Prime Minister “Africa (Ethiopia in our
context) needs to transform and energy is at the center of that transformation.
My vision is that over the next 30 years, we will need to harness as much as
80,000MW of hydro, geothermal, wind and solar power, not just for Ethiopia, but
for our neighbouring countries as well. “This cannot be done by public
investment alone; we will need to partner with private sectors…from that
perspective, this 1000MW with RG is not that large- but it’s a great start,”
Desalegn added. The PM conluded by stating that what “Africa needs now is not
just aid but trade and investment.”
Cognizant
of this fact, the government of Ethiopia has been carrying out activities of
economic diplomacy with state, private and international actors. The Japanese,
Icelandic and U.S governments are the most notable of the state actors while
Reykjavik Geothermal (RG) and the British company Cluff Geothermal constitute partnership
with the private sector. The World Bank (WB) and the African Development Bank
(AfDB) are the most notable of the international organizations working with the
Ethiopian government. Strengthened relations with the above stated international
actors and further new ventures with others in the future promise a much better
time for enhanced performance in the sector.