RE-DESIGNING AND INTEGRATING NATIONAL INTO REGIONAL GEOTHERMAL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES TO INCREASE ELECTRIC ENERGY FOR ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION

摘要

Africa's bleak energy consumption is summarized as the paradox energy poverty in the middle of plenty as shown by only South Africa being ranked the 16th while the rest of the East African region occupying between 104th and 163rd in the world. Sub-Saharan Africa generated power is estimated at 68-gigawatts (GW) no more than that of Spain, with South Africa alone accounting for 40-GW. Uganda's paradox of growth without transformation is on the electric energy sector, as the building of dams, multilateral supported programmes like Rural Electrification Agency; electricity consumption of 75-kWH per capita is one of the lowest. The challenge of overcoming the dire energy needs in rural and urban environments across the continent is to develop a customer strategy that aim towards eliminating fossil fuels by creating infrastructure for renewable energies. Among renewable energies is geothermal which has a lead solution to low electricity consumption and mitigation against its grave impediment to rapid economic and social development. The East African Rift System (EARS) is one of the major tectonic structures of the earth that stretches for about 6,500 km from the Middle East (Dead Sea-Jordan Valley) in the North to Mozambique and Madagascar in the South. The EARS passes through Eritrea, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Democratic Africa's Republic of Congo (DRC), Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique and Madagascar. Its estimated geothermal energy resource potential is more than 15,000 MWe. Despite the high geothermal potential of the EARS, only Kenya and Ethiopia have installed a capacity of about 214 MWe. Other countries are still at the surface exploration stage and yet to locate their geothermal reservoirs. Geothermal energy presents a clean and more environmentally friendly alternative to traditional fuels and has the potential to provide long-term, secure base-load energy and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions. However this potential can only be realized if the following bottlenecks are eliminated or mitigated; risks associated with resource exploration and development; lack of funding; and lack or inadequate geothermal policy, legal and institutional frameworks in most countries of the ears. The regional geothermal development strategy is vital to overcoming many investors reluctance and triggering private investments including capital intensive and long-term investments which are needed for progressive development of the geothermal energy sector to meet the region's growing energy demands in a climate friendly way.