Zambia seeks to develop direct use geothermal projects to utilize geothermal wells in the country that did not have sufficient pressure to support power generation. Joining the Zambia delegation were representatives from the Office of the President and Chief of the Chiefdoms in the regions where geothermal direct use projects have potential.
The delegation visited flower farms in the Naivasha District that were using geothermal heat to regulate temperature. This has helped reduce the harvest period of the flowers by 3 months, at most. The tour also included a visit to the Olkaria geothermal spa, which has become a popular tourist hot spot.
In Nakuru County, the delegation was taken on a tour of the first direct use geothermal steam plant in Menengai. This plant is being used by GDC to showcase the potential of geothermal steam for various direct use applications such as pasteurization, aquaculture, grain drying, and greenhouse heating.
The Kalahari Geo Energy team stated that they were looking for best practices for possible areas of collaboration to implement the best practices back in their country. “We looked around and chose GDC because it’s one of the best in the industry within the region. We want to draw lessons from this tour and see what can be applied back in Zambia,” said Dr. Moses Banda, the head of the Zambia delegation.
“We know from literature that you can use these energies to help improve the lives of people through direct applications but we have not seen first hand,” added Banda.
According to Kalahari Geo Energy, the Bweengwa geothermal project is designed to produce and sell geothermal energy both for power generation and industrial and direct use. The thermal energy will be used for agricultural production and tourism. Plans are still underway for a 10-MW power plant with potential to scale up to 30 MW.
