Djibouti Pays KenGen: A $1 Million Offer on a Five-Year-Old Geothermal Drilling Debt Djibouti has finally moved to pay part of what it owes Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen) for drilling work done near Lake Assal. The amount is small next to KenGen's balance sheet. What it says about selling geothermal drilling services across Africa matters a lot more. KenGen's latest annual report says Djibouti's state geothermal agency, the Office Djiboutien de Développement de l'Énergie Géothermique (ODDEG), has offered a first instalment of about $1 million (Sh129 million) against outstanding invoices of $2.13 million (Sh276.03 million), according to Business Daily. "ODDEG has acknowledged the debt and has proposed an initial payment of $1 million as the first instalment towards settlement," KenGen said in the report. KenGen is Kenya's largest power producer, with about 54% of the market. The Kenyan government owns 70% of the company and the public holds t...
Green Therma and the Future of Geothermal Scale in Europe By: Robert Buluma Geothermal energy has long been one of the most intriguing renewable resources in the global clean energy mix. It is steady, local, and available around the clock, unlike solar and wind, which depend on weather and daylight. Yet despite these advantages, geothermal has often remained a niche part of the energy landscape. The reason is not a lack of potential, but a combination of technical complexity, high upfront drilling costs, site-specific geology, and the challenge of scaling projects in a repeatable way. That is why companies promising a new generation of geothermal systems tend to attract attention. Green Therma is one of those companies. Its message is bold: geothermal technology for scale, potentially up to 25,000 wells in Europe. That is a major claim, and it deserves careful attention. If such a model works, it could change how Europe thinks about district heating, industrial heat, and energy securi...