Interview: China plays rising role in Ethiopia's renewable energy dev't: official

ADDIS ABABA, April 12 (Xinhua) -- China is increasingly participating in Ethiopia's renewable energy sector, enabling the country to tap into its rich renewable energy resources, an Ethiopian official has said.

Speaking to Xinhua recently, Moges Mekonnen, Communications Director with the Ethiopian Electric Power (EEP), said the Chinese companies have emerged to play a visible role in Ethiopia's green economy with a good track record of building renewable energy sources.

"Chinese involvement in Ethiopia's renewable energy sector is visible. They are increasingly involved in both hydro and wind power projects," Mekonnen told Xinhua.

Recalling the successful completion of Adama I and II wind power plants by Power Construction Corporation of China and China Geo-Engineering Corporation Overseas Construction Group, Mekonnen said the EEP has since then become more reliant on Chinese companies for the development of wind farms in Ethiopia.

The Chinese-built Adama wind farms are situated in a range of rocky hills in the Ethiopian highlands in the Oromia region, 100 km south of the capital Addis Ababa.

The wind farms were developed using a combination of Ethiopian regulatory guidelines and Chinese standards and technology, said the official.

"The wind farms feature 102 turbines with a total generating capacity of 153 MW," Mekonnen said, adding that the Chinese-built plants have been running smoothly since construction.

The other wind farm, which China's Dongfang Electric Corporation is undertaking, is located at Aysha, a town in the Somali regional state of Ethiopia in the remote eastern desert near the border with Djibouti.

"Chinese company is also involved in the development of the Aysha wind farm. It is an ongoing project with an installed generating capacity of 120 MW. Eighty-five percent of the budget is gained from the Export-Import Bank of China," he said.

The Chinese companies are unique and helpful in that they pursue a specific model of investment characterized by financing domestic projects and unfettered transferring of technical knowledge to local experts, said the director.

Talking about China's involvement in Ethiopia's hydro-power projects, Mekonnen said China Gezhouba Group Co. Ltd. (CGGC) built the Genale-Dawa III multipurpose hydropower plant in Oromia region.

The 254 MW hydroelectric power Genale-Dawa III was inaugurated in the first quarter of 2020 and has been in safe operation since then, the director said.

"The Genale Dawa project has the capacity of 254 MW installed capacity. China's CGGC undertook the project in which no other international company was involved," Mekonnen said.

Figures show that Ethiopia has abundant renewable energy resources and has the potential to generate over 60,000 MW of electric power from hydroelectric, wind, solar and geothermal sources.

The East African nation produces 4,512 MW of electricity per year. In spite of all its available potential, the country's energy sector is still in its infancy stage.

The majority of Ethiopia's population lives in rural areas without access to modern energy and relies solely on traditional biomass energy sources.