News

The 2007 Short Course for the East African countries was held in Kenya 2-17 November at Lake Bogoria Hotel and Lake Naivasha Simba Lodge. Its aim was to give an overview of methods used in surface exploration, to pass on knowledge of the status of surface geothermal exploration in East Africa and to further the geothermal co-operation between the East African countries.

The closing ceremony of the 29th annual session of the UNU-GTP was held on October 12th 2007. Twenty one UNU Fellows from fourteen countries completed the traditional six month specialized geothermal courses this year. They come from Albania 1, China 1, Costa Rica 1, El Salvador 3, Eritrea 1, Ethiopia 2, Indonesia 2, Iran 3, Jordan 1, Kenya 2, Nicaragua 1, Russia 1, Tanzania 1, and Uganda 1.

Presentations were given by the twenty one UNU Fellows in Orkugarður on October 3rd 2007. Each presentation was of 10 minutes duration and covered methodology, results and conclusions of the individual research project.

In the previous week, the annual UNU Visiting Lecturer, Antonio Rodriguez, General Manager of LaGeo S.A. de C.V., San Salvador, El Salvador, gave a series of excellent lectures on Geothermal in Central America. The PowerPoint presentations are available for download in pdf-format under Publications Five papers written for his lectures will be published by the UNU-GTP later this year. This report will also be available online.

This year, the annual UNU Visiting Lecturer is Antonio Rodriguez, General Manager of LaGeo S.A. de C.V., San Salvador, El Salvador. LaGeo is responsible for the development and exploitation of geothermoelectric projects in the country, and commercialization of energy produced. LaGeo currently contributes 27% of the electricity in El Salvador through geothermal sources, making it the second largest energy producer in the country. Twenty five geoscientists and engineers from El Salvador have graduated from the UNU-GTP. Most of them are employees of LaGeo.