ADDIS ABABA – On January 29, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Assistant Administrator for Africa Earl Gast and African Union Commission (AUC) Deputy Chairperson Erastus Mwencha signed a letter clarifying joint implementation and future collaboration on the development of geothermal energy in East Africa. The letter details the plan for geothermal development, capitalizing on opportunities offered by the AUC’s exploration program in East Africa’s geothermal potential.

The signing event, held on the margins of the 20th African Union (AU) Summit, comes at a time when the AUC – with assistance from German KfW – has started phase one of geothermal exploration in five East African countries; including Kenya, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda.

Following the signing ceremony, AU Commissioner for Infrastructure and Energy Dr. Elham Ibrahim and Administrator Gast facilitated a roundtable discussion on unleashing the potential of geothermal development in Africa with relevant stakeholders and representatives from the AU, African Development Bank, German KfW, and Japanese JICA. The goal of the roundtable discussion was to explore specific actions that can be taken by donors, investors, and political and energy sector leaders to unlock investment around critical energy projects.

Through USAID, the U.S. Government is exploring new approaches to address the political, policy, capacity and financing constraints around specific energy projects in a subset of sub-Saharan African countries.

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Press Release [PDF, 62 KB]

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