Short Course X on Exploration for Geothermal Resources in Kenya
Short Course X on Exploration for Geothermal Resources in currently on-going at Lake Naivasha, Kenya. The first week of the Short Course, which opened on November 9, was devoted to field work in the surroundings of Lake Bogoria in the Rift Valley. On November 15, the course moved to Lake Naivasha where the participants attend lectures on geoscientific exploration, environmental aspects of geothermal development, drilling, utilization, project planning and financial considerations. The lectures are complemented by field trips to the nearby Olkaria geothermal fields, laboratories, power plants and other destinations of interest to students of geothermal development. The final four days will be committed to project work, where the participants will be presented with data from which they will construct conceptual models of geothermal systems. The Short Course will conclude on November 30.
The short course is part of the series of short courses held in support of the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), in cooperation with KenGen and GDC, started in 2006. In 2016, a new series will be started in support of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which were adopted by 193 UN member nations at the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit in September and are to supersede the MDGs in 2016. Attention will therefore be given to how geothermal development contributes to the SDGs and sustainable management of geothermal resources will be emphasized, as well as efficient utilization. It is not expected that that there will be major changes in the setup of the short course, however.
In all, 62 individuals from 18 countries are participating in the Short Course. They come from Burundi (1), Cameroon (1), the Comoros (1), Djibouti (3), D.R. Congo (2), Egypt (1), Eritrea (2), Ethiopia (3), Malawi (2), Mozambique (1), Nigeria (1), Rwanda (2), Sudan (1), Tanzania (7), Uganda (3), Yemen (1), Zambia (2), and the host country Kenya, which has 28 participants.
The participants are enthusiastic about the subjects being conveyed and many have without a doubt an interesting career in geothermal ahead of them.