Ethiopia, which has just inaugurated its largest hydro-electric power station to date, hopes to soon complete a programme that will generate not only enough power for the country's needs but also for export.

The Gilegel Gibe II dam inaugurated last Wednesday is 250 kilometres south of the capital Addis Ababa on the River Omo. The new station, which cost 281 million euros and which was financed partly by Italy, will produce 420 megawatts (MW). 

Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, a champion of renewable energies, stressed at the inauguration ceremony for the dam that it "is possible to speed up development without polluting the environment."
He also reaffirmed that his government "wants to double the country's energy capacity over the current level of 860 MW in the next five years."

Exporting energy

Ethiopia has branched out into new means of clean energy production. The country has invested in a wind farm, which will be Africa's biggest, currently under construction in the northern Tigray region in partnership with French company Vergnet. It should be producing 120 MW by 2012.

In October Ethiopa encouraged companies to invest in the country's geothermal resources, which could, if fully exploited, the government says, produce 5,000 MW against the 7 MW currently produced.
Ethiopia has signed deals to export electricity to Sudan and Djibouti.

The authorities have said they will not start exporting electricity to the neighbours until the country's internal requirements, estimated at 1,200 MW, have been met.

source: Reuters