Addis Ababa — Testing started recently at the Gilgel Gibe III hydro-electric dam which when fully operational will add 1870MW to Ethiopia’s power grid.
According to a government statement last week, the largest hydropower plant in Ethiopia and one the biggest in Africa to date, started trial electric power production on August 11, 2015.
The Ministry of Water, Irrigation and Energy said the trail production is from the stored water that enables the production.
The dam will eventually store 11.8 billion cubic metres of water that can be released downstream for power generation or other purposes.
“When the trail is successful, Gibe III is expected to start generating 500 megawatts of electricity by this month,” Alemayehu Tegenu, the Minister told a news conference last week.
Ministry officials said installation of turbines for the 1,870 megawatt power plant is being carried out. The $ 1.8 billion project was started five years ago and is being largely funded by the government.
According to latest figures Ethiopia has just over 2,000MW of installed generation capacity. This means the addition of Gibe III will substantially change the country’s power profile and help accelerate an ambitious government industrialisation programme.
The government has already gone into long term deals to sell electricity to neighbours lead by Kenya and further afield to Rwanda.
“In the region power shortage and its high price constitute one of the major challenges of development, our success in combating poverty and under-development will among other things depend on how soon and how efficiently we solve the existing power-related problems,” Tegenu said recently.
China Electric Power and Equipment Technology Company is to build a $ 120 million power transmission line to connect Ethiopia and Kenya.
Leading financiers for the project include the African Development Bank and AFD, the French Development Agency.
