Strong focus on geothermal at EAPIC in Nairobi

The EAPIC conference and exhibition takes place for the 18th time this year and is expected to gather more than 2000 visitors from more than 30 countries, including from the region’s leading power utilities, large industries and investors as well as dozens of technology and service providers who will showcase their products at the KICC in Nairobi from 21-22 September.

During the conference, there will be a strong focus on geothermal, including sessions on geothermal business models for the region, financial de-risking and a look at critical factors for an enabling environment for geothermal development.

“Estimated geothermal potential in the region is more than double the current peak demand, so the potential impact is significant” says Amanda Lonsdale.

She adds: “geothermal does have to compete with traditionally less expensive energy sources such as hydro and gas for its position in a country’s base load, so it’s unlikely to become the dominant source for base load power, but it could displace more expensive, less clean sources”.

She continues: “my vision would be to jumpstart geothermal development in the region through a series of smaller projects that can be quickly developed and financed to show early success to governments and developers, increase interest and investment in further development.”

As moderator of the geothermal conference track at EAPIC Amanda Lonsdale’s message will be that: “there is no one size fits all approach to developing geothermal.

It’s an amazing source of base load, renewable energy, but we have to take a realistic approach to how it’s developed, taking into account (first and foremost) the resource itself, the regulatory regimes, and technical and financial capabilities of the countries. People need to educate themselves about geothermal, and to listen to experts who have successfully developed projects in the past