GRMF HEAT to award grants to geothermal direct-use projects in East Africa

View over Kigali from Genocide Memorial, Rwanda (source: flickr/ Dave Proffer, creative commons)

Carlo Cariaga 23 Feb 2024

The Geothermal Risk Mitigation Facility (GRMF) thru the Regional Geothermal Coordination Unit (RGCU) has announced the list of geothermal direct-use projects eligible tor receive grants under the GRMF HEAT programme.

Out of ten full applications, five projects have received an awarding letter and thus qualify for grant contract negotiations with the African Union Commission (AUC). The five awarded projects are as follows:

Of note is the Gisenyi project which will be fhe first GRMF-funded project in Rwanda. The awarded projects cover a range of direct use applications, from crop drying, milk pasteurization, aquaculture to industrial brewery processes.

Geothermal direct use has numerous social economic and environmental benefits, such as reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, reduction of deforestation, savings on energy spending, improved food security and improved quality of life.

The potential for projects in East Africa is huge and the projects contribute directly to independence on fossil fuel imports and regional value creation.

The GRMF is a program that has been set up since 2012 by the African Union to fund, facilitate, and accelerate geothermal development in the East Africa region. The initiative objective of the GRMF is to encourage public and private sector investment into geothermal power generation, but the facility was expanded in 2022 to include the promotion of geothermal direct-use with the launch of the new GRMF HEAT programme.

Source: Email correspondence