Japan's Toshiba inks geothermal pact in Ethiopia

Sep 29, 2014 - Japan’s Toshiba Corp (TYO:6502) said today it had sealed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Ethiopian Electric Power (EEP) to collaborate in the field of geothermal power projects and personnel development.

Publicly-owned utility EEP is involved in the development of geothermal projects and power plant constructions. Under its partnership with the utility, Toshiba will be in charge of producing major geothermal equipment, set up operation and management guidelines and assist in personnel development. It will also launch waste heat utilisation activities under the initiative, the company added.

Ethiopia’s geothermal potential is estimated at about 6 GW. The country, which currently sources more than 90% of its electricity from hydropower, aims to lift its installed power generation capacity to 37 GW by 2037 from 2.27 GW at present. The development of geothermal power will have a key role in the plan, the Japanese group mentioned.

Currently, Toshiba holds a 24% share of the world’s total installed geothermal equipment capacity, having supplied 2.8 GW to North America, Southeast Asia, Iceland and others, it added.

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