ADDIS ABABA – Ministry of Water, Irrigation and Energy said that efforts are underway to harness country’s renewable energy potential for hydro-electric power projects.
In an exclusive interview with The Ethiopian Herald, Dr. Firehiwot Woldehana State Minister of Energy Sector, with the Ministry said that Ethiopia though has great opportunity and density of solar energy potential, exploiting the resource to address the growing demand of power has not reached at the desired level.
The government is now working aggressively to utilize the resources to meet the ever growing energy demand and for long term development.
According to him, two projects in geothermal (Tulumoye and Corbetti) and three projects in solar (Metehara, Gaad, Dicheto) technologies are expected to meet the projected demand of the country.
Ethiopia is endowed with renewable energy resources, including hydropower, solar, wind, and geothermal. However, country’s power sector is dominated by hydropower electricity due to the lowest cost of energy. So, geothermal and solar energy, as well as wind resources are now coming into the picture for short and long term energy planning.
The second leg of the National Electrification Program (NEP2.0) is nothing but off-grid interventions for the rural community not expecting to be connected to the grid within a short period of time.
Ministry is pushing stakeholders to take part towards shaping solar energy capacity to retain energy and diversify nation’s electrification program as part of “Light for All” program through conducting research to supply efficient affordable solar energy storage.
Product quality and standards are important areas under scrutiny and there are a number of collaborative initiatives to guard the consumers from sub-standard products and services. NEP2.0 has also component that address such concerns in meeting the objectives of the program.
In terms of research and capacity building a number of higher education institutions, such as Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa Science and Technology University, and Jima University to mention a few, are involved in activities related to renewable energy technologies through teaching, conducting research, and capacity building.
There are also middle level technical training institutions such as the Ethiopian Water Technology Institute which is involved in operation and maintenance of solar photovoltaic systems, he remarked.
The Ethiopian Herald May 20/2020
BY MENGISTEAB TESHOME
