Development of simplified models for the individuation of the proper exploitation method for African Geothermal resources

Low to high enthalpy geothermal resources exist across the African continent, however, the utilization is still minimal. East Africa has well-known high enthalpy geothermal resources due to its geological setting (East African Rift System). The potential for power generation related to this favourable geological condition is extensive, but geothermal development has (to date) been limited. The current focus is mainly on high-temperature resources (i.e., East African Rift), while low-medium systems are neglected, even though they could provide sustainable heat/energy sources for industrial purposes, tourism, and others. Within the Leap RE project and particularly to WP9, it is expected to implement a Geothermal Atlas for Africa by identifying collecting, compiling, and (re)processing existing data to create an up-to-date Atlas and to help identify the optimal exploitation sites. A specific objective of the WP is to propose the optimal exploitation technologies (both from an economic and environmental point of view) as a function of the geothermal resource type. To do so, it is necessary to develop simplified geothermal models which could be inserted in a global optimization method to select the preferable option to leverage geothermal energy. Therefore, in this work, the development of the simplified thermodynamic, economic and environmental models is described. The first obtained selection maps are drawn as preliminary results of the work.