Underwriting facility set to energise geothermal development in Kenya and Ethiopia
FSD Africa, the UK Government’s flagship financial sector programme in Africa, and Parhelion, a UK-based specialist energy and climate risk finance advisory company, have today announced plans to launch a first-of-its-kind underwriting facility, backed by East African insurers, to de-risk early-stage development of geothermal energy projects with the capacity to significantly expand electricity access and energy sector resilience in Kenya and Ethiopia.
The need
The energy sectors in Kenya and Ethiopia face several systemic issues:
Large numbers of people continue to live without electricity — 12.5 million in Kenya and 42 million in Ethiopia are still unconnected.
Growth in energy demand is outstripping supply — Kenya’s power demand is growing 20% faster than GDP, while recent a...