News

Drilling rig on the way to site of geothermal project at Fiale Caldera in Djibouti, Africa

Drilling rig on the way to site of geothermal project at Fiale Caldera in Djibouti, Africa Drilling rig en route to Fiale project site, Djibouti (source: Dan Hoyer)
Alexander Richter 18 Jun 2018

With the drilling rig being transported to the site of the Fiale geothermal project in Djibouti, drilling contractor Iceland Drilling Company expects to start drilling in July 2018.

With the drilling rig now on its way to the project site at the Fiale Caldera in Djibouti, the project players are expecting to start drilling in July.

Iceland Drilling Company from Iceland signed the drilling contract in 2017, as we reported previously.

The project in the Fiale Caldera area of Lake Assal consists of drilling 4 exploration wells for a new geothermal power plant, set to come on-line in 2021. The power plant will have a total capacity of 50 MW. The Fiale project is managed by the Project Management Unit under the authority of Electricity of Djibouti, EDD. It is financed by the World Bank, the African Bank for Development, OPIC, French Agency for Development, GEF and ESMAP.

The produced fluid from the wells is expected to be concentrated sea water that has been heated to around 305°C, although the temperatures could be as high as 360°C at the bottom of the well. The wells will be drilled directionally, reaching vertical depth of 2,500 meters.

Source: Dan Hoyer via LinkedIn