Ethiopia and Yemen will soon sign an agreement for the purchase of electric power, making Yemen
the fourth country to buy electricity from Ethiopia. 100MW will be sold to Yemen for one year through
a power cable to be laid on the Red Sea floor.
So far, Ethiopia has signed an agreement with Sudan to sell 200MW of electric power, of which 100MW is already underway. Kenya and Djibouti are also receiving 100MW and 50MW respectively.
The Ministry of Water, Irrigation and Energy will exert maximum efforts to achieve the energy target
set in the Growth and Transformation Plan, in which electricity generation will increase to 10,000MW (currently 2,268MW) and its coverage to 75% (from 54%) by the end of 2015.
Water, Irrigation and Energy Minister, Alemayehu Tegenu, said power projects with more than 8,500MW capacity are being implemented around the country: 8,123MW from water, 153MW from wind, 300MW from solar and 50MW from garbage.
The ministry has also launched a solar project, which will be used to power up to 25,000 homes in rural areas. Since the launch, 23,000 solar systems have been installed. Ethiopia also plans to build 14,000 bio-gas technology plants within the GTP period – 3,500 bio-gas plants are being built every year. Ethiopia is saving 100MW daily through distributing power-saving bulbs to households, the Minister said.
Ethiopia has an exploitable power potential of 45,000MW from water, 1.3 million MW from wind and over 7,000MW from geothermal energy.
