(Muluken Yewondwossen)
The Ministry of Water, Irrigation and Energy (MoWIE) only achieved about four percent of its targeted plan which aims to generate an additional 8,000mw electric power during the Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP). Alemayehu Tegenu, Minister of MoWIE, in his deliberation to parliament that the nation managed to achieve 3.9 percent of the target it has set in the last five years. He disclosed this in his report to parliament on Tuesday May 26, 2015.
According to the minister, currently the country has a generation capacity of 2,310mw. Ethiopian Electric Power (EEP) controls electric power production.
In 2010, the year the GTP begins in, Ethiopia’s total generation volume was 2,000mw.
The ministry targeted to increase that volume by four folds to 10,000mw at the end of the five year plan. However, the actual achievement has shown very small increase.
When it sets out on the dream five years ago, the government was optimistic to realize the plan by considerable margin for the expectation that projects that are undergoing in different parts of the country, and new projects that were anticipated to commence operation in the GTP period would become active at the set schedule.
The actual performance of the past five years shows three renewable plants, two wind farms and one hydro electric power sources were added into the national grid.
Power projects that commenced in the GTP period have achievement scores that are far below the target. From the planned hydroelectric projects, the construction of Genale Dawa III which will generate 254mw and the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam have commenced, while Adama I and II wind farms that jointly generate 204mw were completed during the GTP’s lifetime. Finchaa Amertineshi hydro power project that can generate 97mw is the only hydro based source that was inaugurated in the GTP.
Work of a third hydro electric project, Geba, was awarded in the GTP period, but construction started recently. The other projects that commenced in the GTP are the Aluto Langano geothermal and Repi bio gas project.
When the GTP was introduced, the management of the then EEPCo said five new hydro power projects will be commissioned to meet the ever increasing power demand. Most of these projects were meant to be accomplished before the end of the GTP and start generating power.
The nation had achieved notable achievement in power generation in the five years that preceded the GTP. For instance, the three huge hydro electric projects Gilgel Gibe II, Tana Beles and Tekeze whose combined capacity is 1180mw were realized during that time.
According to sources, Ethiopian Electric Power has written an ambitious plan of expanding the nation’s power output capacity to 15,000mw by the end of the second Growth and Transformation Plan which will stretch from July 2015 to 2020.
In his report, Alemayehu said installation of power transmission lines to remote parts of the country has also registered lower performance.
Nearly 1,385km of new transmission line was installed expanding the total distance covered to 12,825km while the target was to reach 17,000km.
The government had plans to increase access to electricity to 75 percent from a 41 percent in 2010 electrifying three fourth of the nation at the end of the GTP. This plan was attained by 55 percent.
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Source: Capital News, June 01, 2015.
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