ThinkGeoEnergy – Geothermal Energy News

Djibouti secures $27m loan from Kuwait for geothermal drilling campaign

The Kuwait Development Fund has granted a $27 million loan to the Geothermal Energy Development Office of Djibouti, for the drilling of up to 10 wells and the construction of a 15 MW geothermal power plant.

Reported last week, Kuwait has granted funding of $27 million to support the geothermal development program in Djibouti, Africa.

This was reported in a statement from the Djiboutian Geothermal Energy Development Office (ODDEG). According to the statement, The Kuwaiti Development Fund (FKD) will provide a $27 million loan for the drilling of 10 wells (eight production boreholes and two re-injection boreholes) and a geothermal power plant with a capacity of 15 MW by the year 2021.

The agreement was signed last week and is hailed by both sides as helping to propel the national geothermal development program of Djibouti.

“The signing of this agreement is mainly the result of two weeks of intensive work between the FKD and ODDEG officials, who focused on the financial and technical evaluation of the Gale-Le-Koma geothermal project in the region. Lake Assal, located in the north of Djibouti.

Launched in October 2016 by Djibouti President Ismail Omar Guelleh, the project has been fully funded by the Djibouti government and executed by the ODDEG.

Djibouti has for this purpose acquired two drilling rigs (a first in the country) capable of drilling more than 2 km deep and greatly strengthening the training of its human skills.

The first results of the project, the first slim-hole drilling in the country, confirmed an intermediate geothermal reservoir on the site, according to the ODDEG.

“With these results in line with our expectations and the expectations of a whole country, we were finally able to carry out a feasibility study for the construction of a geothermal power station with a capacity of 15 MW in its first phase, which will reach 50 MW in its final phase, “the statement said.

The ODDEG also recalls in this document that the signing of this loan agreement to finance this project announces “how much in such a short time this courageous bet of the Djiboutian government was a real success”.

Indeed, the Djiboutian president has made the development of clean energy, permanent and accessible to all and everywhere one of the priorities of the road map of its new five-year plan.

For the President of Djibouti, the energy independence of his country will be “based on renewable energies and especially geothermal energy whose potential is estimated at more than 1,000 MW”.

Djibouti, which currently uses 65% hydroelectric power from an electricity interconnection line with neighboring Ethiopia, also aims to become the first African country to use 100% of green energy by 2025.

Source: China.org.cn

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