When Kenya opened the Olkaria power plant four decades ago, it was more of a research project than a commercial one. Because of its location in Hills Gate National Park, an arid region of volcanic rock punctuated by sulfur gases and inhabited mostly by pigs and zebras, the facility was able to generate electricity using steam from deep within the earth. Untested and expensive geothermal energy was an experimental technology at best, with the first unit expected to power about 10,000 homes. Today, the Olkaria plant generates more than 50 times that, and the technology is going to make up the strength of the country’s electricity grid. “Our future strategy is geothermal energy,” says Rebecca Miano, chief executive of the state-owned Kenya Electricity Generating Company, or KenGen.

For decades, Kenya and its neighbors have focused on hydroelectric power and fossil-fueled thermal plants, but only recently have they awakened to the potential of their vast underground energy resources. The area lies on the side of the Great Rift Valley, an area where tectonic plates gather, bringing the magma underground closer to the surface. It is one of the most active volcanic regions in the world, with Mount Kilimanjaro in the middle, in addition to dozens of hot springs that indicate the intense heat directly below. According to economic research firm Fitch Solutions, Kenya gets nearly half of its electricity from geothermal power plants, more than any other country, and is on track to increase that rate to nearly three-fifths of its electricity. electricity by 2030.

New stations
The Olkaria geothermal power plant, the first of its kind in Africa, feeds tubes that extend two miles deep into the Earth’s crust. The deep tubes deliver high-pressure steam up to 350°C (662°F), which is used to drive giant turbines. Ken Jin plans to invest $2 billion over the next five years in the construction of four new plants and upgrades to the Olkaria plant, which will increase Kenya’s geothermal capacity to more than 1.6 gigawatts, nearly double the current production, which is Enough to supply electricity to a city of one million people. In the long term, the Kenya Electric Corporation expects the country to be able to generate at least six times that amount.

Investment hurdle
The biggest hurdle, in Kenya and the region, has always been the initial investment. While turbines and other equipment used above ground cost roughly $3 million per megawatt, the real cost lies underground, with a single well costing up to $6 million. The construction of each unit usually entails multiple drilling attempts to find enough steam to keep the turbines spinning. For the first plant in Olkaria, the Kenya Electricity Generating Company has drilled 33 wells. “Initially, geothermal plants were seen as too risky and the high initial cost was a drag,” says Peter Omanda, a consultant who has worked on several projects in the region. While technological advances have reduced costs and made it easier to get more steam from each well, the cost of drilling remains a significant obstacle.

Drilling wells and selling steam
To help offset costs, in 2008 Kenya established the state-owned Geothermal Development Corporation, known as GDC. This company aims to assume the investment risks associated with this technology, by drilling wells similar to oil drilling companies. And when it finds a promising field, it sells the steam to Ken Gene or other companies that build above-ground facilities. GDC has raised $746 million, mostly from international lenders such as the World Bank, to develop the volcanic Menengai Crater, 60 miles north of Olkaria, where three independent power producers expect to open geothermal plants in 2023 after years of delay.

Today, the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources announced the increase in new gasoline prices, which makes many people search for gasoline prices in Egypt before and after the increase to determine the value of the increase.

Gasoline prices in Egypt were estimated before and after the increase, with an increase of 25 piasters per liter of gasoline of all kinds, and the stability and stabilization of diesel and diesel prices.

The Automatic Pricing Committee decided to raise gasoline prices by 3% over the prices set last April.

The committee formed by the Ministry of Petroleum and the Ministry of Finance announced to raise the prices of 80 petrol by 25 piasters to 6.75 instead of 6.50, which is within the framework of the 10% agreed upon by the committee in fuel pricing.

Gasoline 92 prices increased by 25 piasters, bringing the price of a liter of 92 gasoline to 8 pounds, compared to 7.75 pounds.

As for gasoline 95, it increased and reached 9 pounds per liter instead of 8.75 pounds per liter, and local diesel prices stabilized at 3900 pounds per ton.

The company added that content makers will receive financial support from it, to be able to cover the costs of producing their videos.

In the statement, Facebook indicated that its new support program is available on its blue platform as well as on “Instagram”, in the form of in-video ads and a star system based on the continuity of the content creator in the production of videos.

Facebook explained that its new program is currently available on the “Invitations-Only” system only, and did not reveal the date of its availability to all content makers.

Today, Saturday, before the start of King Abdullah II’s official visit to Washington, the Jordanian Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation signed an agreement to transfer the first batch of the US grant for direct cash support to the treasury, amounting to 600 million dollars, to contribute to financing development projects and supporting economic recovery.

The first batch of the US cash grant for 2021, amounting to a total of $845 million, is part of the US economic assistance program for the Jordanian government for this year, according to the Jordan News Agency, quoting a Ministry of Planning statement.

The agreement was signed by Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Nasser Al-Shraideh, representing the Jordanian government, and the Director of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) Sherry Carlin.

Al-Shraideh explained that transferring the cash support grant to the treasury early to support priority development projects within the sectors of public finance, water, education, health, public works, housing, energy, mineral wealth, local administration, tourism, antiquities, and youth, which will contribute to reducing the general budget deficit and support the government’s plans to start economic recovery.