ThinkGeoEnergy – Geothermal Energy News

Drilling to start this summer for large-scale project in Ethiopia

Reykjavik Geothermal announced a planned start of a drilling campaign of up to 5 wells for its Corbetti project in Ethiopia, for this summer.

Reported this week, Icelandic geothermal developer Reykjavik Geothermal has now announced that the company plans to start drilling for its large-scale Corbetti project in Ethiopia later this summer.

This has been reported by Bloomberg, quoting the company’s Chief Operating Officer Gunnar Orn Gunnarsson.

The company signed an agreement with the government of Ethiopia in the fall of last year. The development plans a 500 MW plant in several stages to be developed near the Corbetti caldera in Ethiopia by 2020.

Reykjavik Geothermal expects to close financing of around $40 million to $ 80 million later this month. Equity funding of $500 million is then to be raised from investors. The initial funding will be sufficient for a drilling campaign of up to 5 wells with an initial 20 MW output.

The U.S. government is supporting the project as part of the six-nation Power Africa initiative, a $7 billion five-year Presidential initiative aimed at increasing access to electricity in the continent.

Icelandic media reports that Reykjavik Geothermal is in negotiations with Iceland Drilling, a specialised geothermal drilling company for a drilling contract for the Corbetti project.

Source: 2Merkato

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