Page 36 - Abyssinia Busniess Network November 2019

Solar: Ethiopia’s

Future Energy

By Samuel Tekleyesus

(The writer has MBA in Finance; he’s a
lecturer, researcher and business consultant)

Ethiopia has an abundance of potential renewable energy
sources that, ifpursued, could significantly change the
nature of Ethiopia’s current energy sector which heavily
dependson the use of traditional source towards a future
of country wide electrification.Ethiopia’s Growth
andTransformation Plan (GTP)considers renewableenergy
as one of theleading new drivers of economic growthin
the country.Under GTPII, the countryplans to increase the
current electricity generation capacity to 17 GW by 2020.
As per the report of the Ministry of Water Irrigation getting Image
and Electricity, in Ethiopia 90 % of the population use
traditional biomass for cooking and 70 % use kerosene for
lighting.According to sources, around 45% of Ethiopia’s of renewable energysources. The country
populationcurrently has access to electricity grid. currentcapacity is 4.5 GW excessively dependent
on its hydropower plantspower generating
To bridge thegap between abundant resources with the capacity which came from 14 hydropower
needs the country launched theNational Electrification plants, whichaccounts for more than 85% of
Program(NEP) in 2017 in collaboration with the World the total capacity. Other large hydro plants are
Bank by outlining a plan to reach universalaccess of also currently under development including
electricity by 2025. the massive Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam
(GERD), the Koysha Hydropower project and the
In 2018 the Ethiopia ElectrificationProgram (ELEAP) GenaleDawa III project.Other thanhydropower,
was launched by thecountry’s government together with the country also has threewind farms, collectively
theWorld Bank to directly support the NEP.For the millions generating 324MW, and a few diesel plants,
of people living in remote rural areas of Ethiopia who lack generating143 MW, with the rest being generated
access to the power grid or cannot afford electricity, solar bysolar power (14 MW), geothermal power(7.5
energy can be an important first alternative on the energy MW) and other renewables.
access basket.
Based on the Ministry of Water Irrigation and
Ethiopia’s power generation mix consistsentirely out

34 Abyssinia Business Nework ህዳር 2012 / November 2019