ADDIS ABABA – Siemens Gamesa announced it is eyeing to close a contact for Ethiopia to build a wind farm.
Recently, the Company has started the construction works to build a 59 MW wind farm in Djibouti that should be pouring energy into the grid in the first quarter of 2021.
Marcel Cabral, Siemens Gamesa Area Director Africa (excludng South Africa) told The Ethiopian Herald that the company would start a slightly bigger wind farm in Ethiopia.
“We are currently about to close a contract for Ethiopia to build a slightly bigger wind farm than the Djiboutian one and we expect to see other opportunities in this promising country in the coming years,” he said adding, “The other countries in the Horn of Africa are unfortunately lagging behind Ethiopia and Djibouti regarding wind energy and we see few opportunities in the short term.”
Ethiopia is endowed with outstanding and diversified renewable energy resources; the current electricity installed capacity of 4.2 GW is 97 percent renewable of which the biggest share is hydropower. Furthermore, 8.8 GW of hydropower development is under construction.
“Hydropower is a wise choice, being cheap, easy to pilot and representing a natural energy storage solution. Nevertheless we believe, a country should put efforts in diversifying its energy mix and not rely on one technology only.
“There are always risks existing related to one specific technology, which for hydropower could be droughts, and the effects of climate change to be added on top,” he said.
According to him, wind power needs the electrical grid to have some storage capabilities so hydro and renewable intermittent sources do therefore match perfectly, as hydro can be used as storage (pump or reserve). With this process, the excess power generated by wind can be stored in the form of gravitational potential energy of water, pumped from a lower point reservoir to a higher elevation point, he said.
“Without any doubt, those generation solutions in addition to the development of interconnections between Ethiopia and the neighboring countries will accelerate economic development; if competitive sustainable development is permitted through renewable energies Ethiopia is blessed with. Definitively Ethiopia can be the electrical hub and the “battery” of the Horn of Africa,” Cabral stressed.
Siemens Gamesa is among the global leaders in the wind power industry, with a strong presence in all facets of the business: offshore, onshore and services.
With more than 100 GW installed worldwide, Siemens Gamesa manufactures, installs and maintains wind turbines, both onshore and offshore.
The Ethiopian Herald April 9/2020
BY ABIY HAILU
