LEAP-RE holds community visit to Homa Hills, Kenya

Geothermal Village field trip to Homa Hills, Kenya (source: LEAP-RE)

A team from the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, the University of Turin and Géo2D has made a field trip to the territory of Homa Hills in Kenya in the context of the Geothermal Village project under Long-Term Joint European Union – African Union Research and Innovation Partnership on Renewable Energy (LEAP-RE). The objective of the visit was to gather knowledge and awareness on the social needs and expectations of the communities to which the program should respond to.

The Geothermal Village program aims to put up geothermal-based standalone electric and thermal energy systems to off-grid African communities. Four African countries are participating in the project – Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti, and Rwanda.

During the visit to Homa Hills, five focus group discussions in five different locations were held, along with in-depth interviews with members of the local communities and representatives of the stakeholders potentially benefiting from the project. This type of field trip or community visit will be repeated in Djibouti and Rwanda (and hopefully in Ethiopia).

The project team had previously visited Homa Hills to collect samples from geothermal waters, gases, and rocks.

Source: LEAP-RE