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Ethiopia on track to generating electricity from Africa’s largest power plant in 18 months
Construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. PHOTO/File
Ethiopia is on track to generating electricity within 18 months from what will be Africa’s largest power plant.
The sale of 7.1 billion birr (US$367 million) of bonds over the past 3 years to domestic investors, has contributed to the 27 billion birr (US$1.4 billion) spent so far on the 75.5 billion birr (US$3.9 billion) Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) hydropower project, said Zadig Abraha, deputy general director of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam national coordination office.
The Ethiopian central bank in April 2011 ordered banks to buy government bonds equivalent to 27 percent of their loans to help fund infrastructure projects.
Ethiopia’s funding of the 6,000-megawatt plant represents “the golden age of our history as far as economic development and public participation is concerned,” Zadig said by phone on March 18 from the capital, Addis Ababa. “If we’re to meet the power demand we have to construct these mega projects.”
Africa’s second-most populous country after Nigeria is boosting electricity output to cater for increased demand as economic growth surges. The economy has expanded at an average 9.3 percent over the past 4 years and the government is targeting growth of more than 10 percent, which may lead to annual increases in electricity demand of as much as 35 percent, Zadig said.
An increase in Ethiopia’s current generating capacity of 2,000 megawatts will also allow the country to reduce a trade deficit of US$8.5 billion last year by selling excess electricity.
Ethiopia already exports power to Sudan and Djibouti. It’s also building a transmission line to Kenya and is in discussions with Yemen and South Sudan, Zadig said. Once construction on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam is completed, and other hydropower projects including the 1,870-megawatt Gibe III are on line, Ethiopia may earn US$2 billion a year from the exports, he said.
