Japan to Fund Portable Geothermal Power Plant

Mar 20 , 2021


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With the capacity to produce five megawatts of power, a portable geothermal power plant will soon be introduced with the help of the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Japan has agreed to provide an 18-million-dollar grant to Ethiopian Electric Power (EEP), which is planning to commence commercial operations in August 2021. It is developing a five-megawatt geothermal power plant at the Aluto-Langano Geothermal Wellhead Power System. "Its generation capacity is rather small, but it is easy to install,” said Katuski Morihara, chief representative of JICA in Ethiopia. JICA supports efforts to explore the possibility of power-generation projects in Afar Regional State, carrying out preparatory surveys for a large-scale geothermal power plant at Aluto-Langano. EEP hopes to generate 50MW of power, a fraction of the 1,000MW of power Ethiopia plans to generate from its geothermal potential, by 2030. The Toshiba Energy Systems & Solutions Corporation (ESS), along with Toyota Tsusho Corporation and Turkish engineering company Egesim Energy Electro-Mechanic Construction Contracting, has received the engineering, procurement and construction contract for the project. Ethiopia currently has an electricity access rate of 45pc.


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