Description
This three week event was co-organized by the United Nations University Geothermal Training Programme (UNU-GTP), Kenya Electricity Generating Company, Ltd. (KenGen) and Geothermal Development Company (GDC). The 45 participants came from 11 countries of East Africa, and surroundings. Besides the home country, Kenya with 21 participants, these are Djibouti (2), Ethiopia (3), Eritrea (2), Tanzania (3), Uganda (3), Rwanda (3), Burundi (2), Zambia (2), The Comoros (2) and finally Yemen (2), that despite being on the side of the Red Sea, has common geological features with East Africa. The first part of the Short Course was a week of field work in the Lake Bogoria region under guidance of KenGen and GDC instructors. It then continued at Lake Naivasha on November 8 for lectures and project work to be continued till November 22. The teaching was in the hands of 4 experts from Iceland (UNU-GTP and ISOR – Iceland GeoSurvey), 25 experts from KenGen and GDC - most former UNU Fellows in Iceland, and four experts, from the neighbouring countries, all former UNU Fellows.
The lectures covered all sciences related to geothermal surface exploration, i.e. geology, geophysics, geochemistry and environmental science, together with an introduction to reservoir assessment and geothermal drilling, all demonstrated by numerous field examples. Three days were devoted to the status of geothermal exploration and development in the region and planning of geothermal projects, and finally, four days for geothermal project work.