| The NEP outlines how the country plans to achieve universal energy access by 2025 using a sector-wide integrated approach, with a special focus on off-grid electrification |
| LONDON, United Kingdom, March 7, 2019/ — Two co-located energy meetings taking place in Addis Ababa from 27 – 29th March welcome a special update on the new version of Ethiopia’s National Electrification Program 2.0 (NEP), presented by the Government of Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia.
This update will be the first since the NEP 1.0 launched in 2017, taking place during the co-located ‘Regional Energy Co-operation Summit’ (www.East-Africa-Summit.com) and ‘Africa Energy Forum: Off the Grid’ (www.AEF-Offgrid.com) meetings. The NEP outlines how the country plans to achieve universal energy access by 2025 using a sector-wide integrated approach, with a special focus on off-grid electrification. The Ministry of Water, Irrigation and Energy (MoWIE) and the Ethiopian Electric Utility (EEU) have already commenced pilot projects with Ethiopia’s first ever mini-grids, electrifying 12 remote communities across the country with roll-out phase of hundreds of such mini-grids. MoWIE will be joined by local and international stakeholders to delineate the next steps on power sector reform. This includes the implementation of cost reflective tariff adjustment, further unbundling of generation and transmission operations, and loss reduction with improved performance to attract the private sector and encourage renewable IPPs in coming years. Karmen Tornius, Programme Manager for the East Africa conferences, commented, “This will be the first time the market has heard these announcements, so it’s an exciting time for Ethiopia’s energy sector. The country presents many unique investment opportunities with its rapidly growing economy and population. Coupled with a more open landscape for private investment, the potential is huge.” The Government has already announced the commencement of a tender for six mega solar projects worth USD 798 million, with an estimated capacity of around 750 megawatts (MW). According to the Ministry of Finance, these will be followed by hydropower IPPs and further investments in large-scale wind and geothermal projects. Both meetings will welcome H.E Seleshi Bekele, Minister of Water, Irrigation and Energy, Ethiopia alongside government officials from Djibouti, Somalia, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Malawi, Tanzania and Kenya and international financiers, donor organisations and power developers. Active participation of energy sector institutions MoWIE, EEU (Ethiopian Electric Utility), EEP (Ethiopian Electric Power) and the EEA (Ethiopian Energy Authority) is core to the event. Distributed by APO Group on behalf of EnergyNet Ltd.. |
