Ethiopia to start power supply to Sudan after Djibouti

Tuesday, 21 June 2011 16:44

0 Ethiopia will start supplying electric power to neighbouring Sudan next month as part of the Horn of Africa country’s plan to become a regional power exporter. Power exports to Djibouti began two weeks ago. ©Reuters Miheret Debebe, CEO of Ethiopian electric and Power Corporation (EEPCo.) on Monday announced that Ethiopia had begun supplying power to Djibouti as part of an agreement between the two countries. And following the near completion of transmission grids between Ethiopia and Sudan, the latter will be the second country to receive electric power from the landlocked country as of July, 2011. According to Debebe, EEPCo is expected to generate enough power in the next 36 months to enable Ethiopia to honour electric power demands from its neighbours. It was reported that Ethiopia had signed an initial agreement to supply 200 megawatts (MW) to Djibouti, 200 MW to Sudan, and 500 MW to Kenya. Ethiopia, which is undertaking Africa's biggest dam over the Nile River, is expected to generate around 5,250 MW of power upon completion of works, has an annual power generation capacity of 2,000 MW. The Horn of Africa country plans to boost its capacity by up to 8,000 MW, as envisioned in its ambitious Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP). Meanwhile, the country is set to launch its first ever wind farm in July, 2011. The €210 million wind farm project will provide the country with 120 MW. It adds to a number of multi billion hydro power projects as part of the country’s plan to reach a power generating capacity of around 10,000 MW in the next five years. Finance But besides support from international financial institutions for Ethiopia's power projects as part of a wider regional integration programme in Africa, government estimates indicate that the country will spend about €3.3 billion on the construction of the hydro electric dam over the Nile River. In a bid to buttress financial efforts towards the construction of Africa’s biggest dam over the Nile River, a new banking rule that required private banks to allocate 27 per cent of their loans to purchase government bonds was introduced in April, 2011. Ethiopia has so far obtained some US$64 million in grants for the Djibouti interconnection following earlier reports the country was charging its neighbour about 70 dollar cents per kilowatt hour (kWh); much higher than the country's rates, which are pegged at 0.065 dollar cents.