| Abstract |
Archaeological excavation Records available indicate that exploration of geothermal resources human first use occurred in North America more than 10,000 years ago with the settlement of Paleo-Indians at hot springs. European settlers moving westward across the continent, gravitated toward these springs with the first one visiting the Yellowstone area, probably encountered hot springs in 1807. From 1862 homes were built near springs to take advantage of the natural heat of these geothermal springs, Hot Lake Hotel near La Grande, Oregon, marking the first time the energy from hot springs is used on a large scale. At around this time, the exploration of geothermal manifestations in Africa was given by Stanley in Burundi in 1878 and 1911 by Bas-Katanga Engineers in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The first geothermal Power Plant was constructed in 1952 at Kiabukwa in Manono Province producing electricity at 550.000-kWh per year. No further progress in geothermal studies in DRC until now. Subsequent geothermal exploration has been carried out in the continent’s twenty-one (21) Geothermal Resource Countries (GRC) from with 1952 to early 2005 but largely remain undeveloped because of the high resource development and financial risks in addition to lack of strategic geothermal energy specific policy, institutional, and regulatory barriers. With steady geothermal development in the US, the need for strategic geothermal energy policy, institutional, and regulatory framework became apparent. Overtime, geothermal resource acts, loan guaranty and financial assistance were enacted. These enabled and encouraged lease of public lands and other federal lands for geothermal exploration and investment in sustainable and environmental development of its geothermal resources. |