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Ethiopia: The power house spearheading green energy in Africa
“Unless you have this kind of ambitious plan, the pace of population pressure will take over and you won’t see any change,” said Belay Simane, professor of environment at Addis Ababa university.
Ethiopia is already exporting power to Djibouti and Sudan, with a line to transport energy to Kenya under construction.
Soliman said it will solidify Ethiopia’s role as a leader in green energy in the region.
“Ethiopia will have a competitive regional advantage, not having to rely on economically and technically less-feasible sources of energy such as gas or oil to meet growing demands, which many East African countries are doing,” Soliman said.
The hard currency earned from these power exports will go toward increasing the number of renewable energy projects in Ethiopia, according to the government. Heavy investment in the green energy sector extends beyond economics: the country is keen to avoid the mistakes of countries such as China or India, that experienced rapid economic growth but with grave environmental costs.
“If we invest in these resources, we can develop in a green way without affecting the environment like they did in Europe,” said Fisseha Gebremichael, Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation’s Ashegoda project manager.
Alemeyahu said he hopes Ethiopia’s aggressive investments in wind and other renewable energy resources will persuade other African countries to follow suit.
“We don’t want to keep African populations in the dark for a long time, we have to run very fast to access light for industry and for social and economic development,” he said.
Source: AFP
