Ethiopia has abundant renewable energy resources and has the potential to generate over 60,000 megawatts (MW) of electric power from hydro, wind, solar and geothermal sources. As a result of Ethiopia’s rapid GDP growth over the previous decade, demand for electricity has been steadily increasing.
Despite Ethiopia’s huge energy potential, the country is still experiencing energy shortages as it struggles to serve a population of over 100 million and meet growing electricity demand which is forecast to grow by approximately 30% per year. Ethiopia’s Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP) outlines a 15-year plan with three 5-year phases to transform Ethiopia from a developing country to a middle income country by 2025.
Under GTP I (2010-2015), the goal was to increase the installed generation capacity from 2,000 MW to 10,000 MW primarily through hydro power projects. With some of those projects still under construction, the country currently has approximately 4,500 MW of installed generation capacity. Under GTP II (2015-2020) the goal is to increase installed generation capacity by an additional 5,000 MW by 2022.
Ethiopia Electric Power (EEP) is charged with maintaining more than fourteen hydropower and three wind power plants located in various parts of the country. The Government has focused on the construction and expansion of various power generating projects to deliver reliable electricity.
Approximately 90 percent of the installed generation capacity is from hydropower while the remaining 8 percent and 2 percent is from wind and geo thermal sources respectively. The hydro dominated systems have been severely affected by drought, and the Government of Ethiopia (GOE) is now diversifying the generation mix with other sources such as solar, wind and geothermal that will result in a more climate-resilient power system. The government is also working with the private sector to implement the Corbetti and Tulu Moye geothermal projects with over 1,000 MW of combined generation capacity.
Ratification of IAs by the House of Peoples Representatives is the last critical step to concluding these two 520 MW projects. On August 19, 2018, Africa’s first waste to energy facility, with a generation capacity of 25 MW of electricity, was inaugurated in Addis Ababa. This facility has the capacity to consume 420,000 tonns of trash per year.
The GOE has opened the renewable energy sector for private sector involvement in competitively tendered IPP hydro and solar projects. In addition to the generation of power from renewable energy sources, aging power plants, substations and transmission lines require substantial maintenance and overhaul so as to increase the overall efficiency.
Aware of the country’s potential, the Addis Ababa government launched an ambitious plan in 2016 to speed up the energy transition and support the construction of plants that use the country’s abundant renewable sources. The Growth and Transformation Plan 2 involves the construction of 13.7 GW of new renewable capacity from sources other than hydroelectric in the coming years, in order to diversify the Ethiopian energy generation mix. So Addis Ababa turned its attention to the sun.
Through Scaling Solar, a program sponsored by the World Bank that provides financial assistance to emerging countries for solar energy, it launched its first public tenders for the construction of new photovoltaic plants. “Access to clean energy is the key to the development of Africa. For a secure and sustainable energy future, renewable sources are the answer.
The cost competitiveness, the availability of resources and the fast time to market of green technologies can contribute to the spread of energy sustainable in Africa.”Antonio Cammisecra, CEO of Enel Green Power. Recently, Ethiopia’s Ministry of Finance announced a tender for the construction of six solar plants with a combined capacity of 798 MW. In a statement on its website, the Ethiopian government said the projects will be developed under a publicprivate partnership framework and will attract investment totaling around $795 million.
The projects will be in the states of Afar, Somali, Oromia and Tigray, and will be part funded by the government. The tender may be an expansion of the 500 MW solar plans the Ethiopian government is implementing under the International Finance Corporation’s (IFC) Scaling Solar program, an initiative under which the IFC is organizing reverse auctions for solar as well as providing financing and guarantees for investors to reduce funding risks.
The exercise is Ethiopia’s third tender for large-scale solar. The first, issued by state-owned power company Ethiopian Electric Power (EEP) and won by Italian energy company Enel in October 2017, will bring online a 100 MW solar plant in Metehara, in Oromia, central Ethiopia. The second tender was issued by the EPP in October 2017 and intended the construction of two 125 MW solar facilities. For that procurement, the power utility pre-selected 12 developers in March last year.
The first and second tenders were part of the Scaling Solar scheme. Ethiopia’s energy strategy aims to deploy 300 MW of solar by 2020. The country has around 4.3 GW of installed power generation capacity, of which 3,810 MW is in the form of hydro installations, 324 MW wind, 7 MW geothermal and 143 MW of diesel.
“It is one of the few countries in the world where the electric grid is nearly 100 percent supplied by renewable sources,” said the World Bank in a recent statement announcing $375 million support for the country’s Electrification Program. The lender, however, said only 34% of Ethiopia’s population has access to electricity, and the lack of power also affects basic services such as primary schools and health clinics.
“This discrepancy between abundant resources and unmet needs points to the need for a radical new approach” the bank added. The future of Ethiopia depends on the sun that lights its highlands, the wind that blows through its forests and the force of its rivers. The country is rich in sources of renewable energy. If taken advantage of, they can help build a sustainable tomorrow.
The Ethiopian Herald April 25/2019
BY ESSEYE MENGISTE
