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Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, March 10, 2012 – Ethiopia’s Electric Power
Corporation (EEPCO) says that Somaliland will be the next beneficiary of
its electricity export deals.
EEPCO plans to electrify Togo Wuchale across the border from the
Ethiopian town of the same name, and electric transmission line
installation work has begun around the area.
In future, the corporation plans to expand its supply to Somaliland’s
capital, Hargeysa. Broad agreement has been reached but some details
have yet to be ironed out.
Ethiopia has been supplying up to 80MW of electric power to Djibouti
since the middle of last year earning the country US$1.5 million a
month. The Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation has now also completed
the transmission lines to make Sudan the second country to benefit from
Ethiopia’s power exports. The 296 kilometer link has a 230 Kilovolt
capacity and will start operation this year.
Agreement has been reached over a deal to supply power to Kenya as well,
and another transmission line is under construction on the Kenyan side
of the border, funded by the African Development Bank. Export of
electricity to Kenya is scheduled to begin in 2014, but the Kenyan
border town of Moyale is already receiving electricity from EEPCO.
Another Kenyan border town is expected to be linked to the Ethiopian
grid in a few weeks. Ethiopia is currently undertaking multibillion
dollar investments on a number of green energy projects that will see
the country become one of Africa's leading exporters of power.
The government plans to generate a total of up to 10,000MW of
electricity by the end of the current Growth and Transformation Plan
within the next ten years.
Source: The Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
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