The Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPCo) has signed agreements for the creation of two large wind farms that will significantly alter life in a country where only 25 percent of residents currently have access to electricity.
Ethiopia’ first ever wind power plant will be built in Ashegoda, near Mekelle, the capital of the nation’s Tigray province. The first phase of the project, which is being overseen by France’s Vergnet Groupe, is expected to be completed by June 2011, and will have a capacity of 30 MW.
When the plant is fully operational, in 2013, its total capacity will be 120 MW, the utility said.
Financing for the €210 million project has been provided by BNP Paribas, a French bank.
EEPCo also announced that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Terra Energy Developers for the engineering, procurement and construction of a 400 MW wind park project in Debre Berhan, about 130 km north of Addis Ababa, the political and commercial capital of the country.
Under the agreement, Terra Energy ‒ which is based in Nevada in the US ‒ will set up a wind turbine assembly plant in Ethiopia and arrange the required financing.
Terra Energy ‒ a joint venture between Princeton Energy Group, Global Enterprise Engineering Solutions and Pacific Renewable Energy Consulting ‒ will also handle the technology transfer and manage the plant.
Debre Berhan Wind Park is one of the seven wind projects EEPCo plans to get under way in the next five years. It was initially estimated to be able to generate 100 MW, but that projection was dramatically increased after completion of a second assessment of the site.
“Terra Energy is expected to do a feasibility study, environmental impact assessment, and financial proposal during the contract year,” said Mekuria Lemma, acting director of corporation planning for EEPCo, in an interview with Fortune magazine.
US-based Terra Energy, a joint venture between Princeton Energy Group, Global Enterprise Engineering (GE2) Solutions, and Pacific Renewable Energy Consulting, said it intends to source, fabricate and cast materials for its wind turbines from local companies.
“Our aim is to establish an assembly plant in the short-term and a manufacturing plant in the long-term,” said Dereje Abebe, Terra Energy’s Ethiopian-born director of Africa Operations in the same Fortune magazine piece. “This will bring about technology transfer, import substitution, and, eventually, export.”
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