Page 7 - AfrElec Week 47 2022
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AfrElec EXPORTS AfrElec
Ethiopia starts exporting
electricity to Kenya
ETHIOPIA ETHIOPIA has begun exporting electricity to trade and grid interconnections.
neighbouring Kenya following a week of testing Ethiopia sees its Grand Ethiopian Renais-
a $500mn transmission line, with power gener- sance Dam (GERD) hydro-power project as key
ated from its controversial mega-dam project on to its economic development while its down-
the Nile. stream neighbour Egypt fears it will exacerbate
Last month, Kenya signed a 25-year power water scarcity in its country.
purchase deal with Ethiopia to import 600 The $5bn dam will be able to generate
MW. State-owned utility Ethiopian Electric 5,150MW of electricity once completed in 2024,
Power (EEP) said that the 1045km-long Ethio- and apart from with Kenya, Ethiopia has signed
pia-Kenya Transmission Interconnection Line supply agreements with Sudan, Djibouti, Somal-
has the capacity to deliver 2,000 MW and could iland, Tanzania and South Sudan.
generate up to $100mn in revenue a year. Ethiopia has the second biggest electricity
The project is part of the Eastern Africa deficit on the continent, according to the World
Power Pool (EAPP), a regional institution estab- Bank, with about two-thirds of its population of
lished in 2005 to coordinate cross-border power 110mn lacking a connection to the grid.
Week 47 23•November•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P7
