The Role of geothermal energy and capacity building in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals in Africa

Abstract

The United Nations (UN) has committed to ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all by 2030, as stated in Sustainable Development Goal 7. In order to achieve this, energy will need to be brought to over one billion people in developing and transitional countries over a short time period. It is foreseen that a large part of this energy will come from the renewables, including geothermal energy. Capacity building is a key enabler in accelerating the utilization of geothermal energy in countries of greatest need. Based on the World Energy Council report, published in 2016, on the current world energy status and future energy scenarios, the primary energy consumption in the world was assessed as 574 EJ in 2014, with about 81% coming from fossil fuels, and only 14% from renewable energy sources. Different scenarios proposed by WEC for development to 2060 are discussed with emphasis on the potential contribution of the renewables and their prospects. The current share of renewables in energy production is mainly from biomass and hydro, but in a future envisioned through depleting resources of fossil fuels and environmentally acceptable energy sources, geothermal energy with its large technical potential is expected to play an important role. Africa is currently an energy depleted region, but in the WEC report an annual growth rate of 5% is predicted in the next decades, considerably higher than for other regions which is good news for Africa. This paper gives an overview of the energy utilization in the world and the operations of UNU Geothermal Training Programme in Iceland are presented, with emphasis on East Africa. Utilization of geothermal energy in Africa is reviewed and examples are presented from the region, as well as from Iceland where geothermal energy plays a larger role than in any other country in the world.