East Africa donors encourage geothermal investment in sub-region

The East Africa Donors' Coordination meeting has been held to encourage further geothermal investments and improve access to equity or other funding sources in the sub region, said a statement from the African Union (AU) on Saturday.

The meeting, the first of its kind, was held earlier this week at the AU Headquarters in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa. It aimed to play a catalytic role in establishing geothermal energy as a strategic option in power expansion planning of Eastern Africa.

According to the statement, Elham Ibrahim, AU Commissioner for Infrastructure and Energy hailed the organization of the meeting that sought to encourage public and private investors to develop geothermal prospects for power generation in East Africa.

Elham said it was important to increase the deployment of geothermal projects so as to increase the rate of energy access in Africa especially with the growing population.

Gary Quince, Head of EU delegation to AU, said that with the growing population in Africa, geothermal energy is a unique option as it provides base load alternative to fossil fuel-based electricity generation and is deemed environmentally friendly. Endit