Olkaria III: Geothermal energy for Kenya – a flagship project

Olkaria III is the first privately financed geothermal plant in Africa. Cologne-based DEG, part of the KfW Banking Group, lead the realization of the project. Bruno Wenn, Chairman of the Board of Management at DEG will present this flagship project at the Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum. This year’s conference, entitled “The Heat is On – Climate Change and the Media”, will take place from June 21-23 in Bonn.

Within the framework of German development work, DEG is responsible for financing investments of private companies for projects in developing and transition countries. An example from the realm of climate change is the Olkaria III geothermal plant in Kenya.

Wenn says that the climate change debate has been shaped by the role of the public sector. “The participation of the private sector has mostly been missing in public discussions until now,” he says. For Olkaria III, 105 million dollars (US) were provided by outside financing. DEG’s requirements: The project must be “operational, profitable, environmental and socially acceptable”. Wenn is convinced that Olkaria III can be a glowing example for making climate projects profitable. However, he also says that the private infrastructures that exist in developing countries are a major challenge. When working on Olkaria III, DEG benefited from KfW’s cooperation with the state-run power company in Kenya, in order to get more investors on board.

Wenn states that geothermal energy isn’t a futuristic vision. “The capacity in 2008 was just behind solar energy worldwide. There is a lot of potential in the Americas and in Asia,” says Wenn. “The USA is currently the largest consumer of geothermal energy, followed by the Philippines, Indonesia and Mexico.” It could also be important in Africa. “Olkaria III is like the core in Africa for further development in the region and a big step forward.”

In Bonn, Wenn will make it clear that all stakeholders must reach a “long-term, global agreement regarding the general conditions about climate change and the prevention of future greenhouse gas emissions.”

More than 50 individual events

In 2010, the Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum once again offers more than 50 events including podium discussions and workshops, interactive presentations and exhibitions, networking and interesting side events. It takes place at the World Conference Center Bonn, close to Deutsche Welle’s headquarters.

Deutsche Welle is cooperating with many different organizations for this interdisciplinary conference, including the UNESCO, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the International Human Dimensions Program on Global Environmental Change (UN IHDP/ESSP), EU Commission and the World Bank, the Wuppertal Institute, World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF), NABU and the Climate Alliance, the Institute for World Business Kiel, German Development Institute (DIE), the Center for Development Research (ZEF) and many others.

Co-host of the Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum is the Foundation for International Dialogue of the Sparkasse in Bonn. The convention is also supported by Germany’s Federal Foreign Office, the Family, Women and Integration Ministry of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, European Funds for Regional Development, the city of Bonn, DHL, the KSB Group and Faber-Castell.

June 2010