Saturday, 13 September 2008
Kaleyesus Bekele
The power outage observed in Addis Ababa and in major regional towns has continued to happen.
Reliable Sources told The Reporter that the Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPCo) was unable to meet the ever-increasing power demand. EEPCo has a maximum generation capacity of 814 MW. However, sources said the corporation is, at present, generating about 650 MW, adding that the gap between power demand and supply was 120 MW. “Unless Tekeze and Gibe II start generation, the power outage is inevitable. The scheduled power outage may start in January or February,” sources said.
EEPCo recently stopped using the diesel power generators due to the high cost of fuel and better water run-offs to the dams. These generators are back-ups found in Dire Dawa, Koka and Kality.
Alemayehu Tegenu, Minister of Mines and Energy, earlier said that the fast economic development the country was registering increased the electricity demand. “Because of the favourable investment climate the government had created, more factories are being established and this has increased the demand for electric power. It is a challenge that stemmed from our economic growth,” Alemayehu said. According to EEPCo the country’s power demand had increased by 15 percent. EEPCo, has 1,396,000 customers, 40 percent of them are in Addis Ababa.
Ninety-five percent of the customers are households and the rest constitute the industrial and service sector. However, the industrial and service sector which, accounts for only five percent of the number of customers, consumes 69 percent of the electric power. At the moment, the power deficit is 80 MW. The country’s power consumption per capita is 35 kWh. Sub-Saharan African average power consumption per-capita is 500 kWh. EEPCo plans to increase Ethiopia’s consumption to 500 kWh within ten years.
At the moment, EEPCo’s maximum electric generating capacity is 814 MW, 80 percent hydro and 20 percent geothermal and thermal. However, because of various reasons, including water shortage, the corporation generates only 600 to 700 MW. EEPCo is undertaking massive hydro-power projects. Tekeze( 300 MW), Gibe II (420 MW), Beles(460 MW), Gibe III (1870 MW) and Fincha Amenti Neshe (100).
The construction of Tekekeze was finalized last month. The first unit will start generation later this month if everything goes according to schedule. It is also to construct a wind turbine farm which can generate 120 MW near Mekelle, Adama(Nazareth) and Gondar towns. The corporation plans to construct more than ten hydropower plants.
