In December 2020, Reykjavík Geothermal (RG) submitted a direct application for the Abaya Drilling Programme in Ethiopia to the Geothermal Risk Mitigation Facility for Eastern Africa (GRMF). This was subsequent to the GRMF funding that was granted for the Abaya Surface Study and Environmental Social Impact Assessment, where results indicate a potentially accessible subterranean geothermal heat source that can be harnessed for energy production.
This July 2021, the African Union Commission (AUC) has informed RG that the submitted application for the Abaya Drilling Programme was evaluated and had achieved the required number of points to pass the evaluation. The maximum reasonable cost budget of the grant to be potentially provided by GRMF is about 9 million USD of the total exploration drilling cost of first three wells.
A warm thank you to AUC and GRMF – we are excited to move forward with the Abaya Geothermal Project!