Written by Brian Burrell - Horizon Ethiopia Staff Writer
Tuesday, 13 January 2009
In a small town southwest of Addis Ababa the largest solar project in East Africa has brought electricity to around 6,000 residents formerly left out of the government’s rural electrification project. Germany’s Solar Energy Foundation has moved past one-time aid and has trained Rema’s villagers to install and maintain these systems thus creating the conditions for a sustainable industry to grow.
Another milestone in alternative energy was reached just last month as Vergnet, a French manufacturer of wind turbines, signed a 210 million Euro agreement to commence the largest project on the continent harnessing natural air streams. The wind field just south of Mekele is projected to raise nationwide power generation capacity by 15%. These two developments appear to be isolated ventures into renewable energy generation with public interests super-ceding business aspects. But an examination of the socioeconomic forces driving the projects reveals potential for private sector implications and industries to be spawned on their lead.
OPPORTUNITIES BLOWING IN
The obvious result of the 120 wind turbines that will go up in Ashgoda, Tigray Regional State, is a diversification of Ethiopia’s power generation currently dependent – to the tune of 98% – on seasonal rains to fill the hydroelectric dams. A boost of 120 MW to the grid is welcomed by a public and business community bracing, once again, to struggle with rolling power outages.
But kicking off a new energy sector has farther-reaching implications, as Vergnet’s venture will provide a test case to gauge the viability of wind power generation properties. Digging deeper into the research on this green energy, past the feasibility study conducted by the German firm Lahmeyer and funded by GTZ, reveals the potential for smaller-scale private projects to supply electricity to the 75% of the population still off the national power grid. Utilizing an erratic source and still leaving much to be desired in terms of power storage, wind power counters with options for simple generation. While the mega-projects have their own generators to convert the kinetic energy of rotating turbines, small windmills are directly linked to the instrument it is powering. New approaches to this age-old technology in the so-called ‘small wind’ movement have applicability to open highland areas and lowland wind corridors. Indeed, the potential to erect self-contained systems in Ethiopia’s communities isolated by lack of infrastructure is touted in the country’s policies towards purchasing power from private investors. Studies reveal many viable locations for wind farms, albeit the largest potential around Nazareth is off-limits due to interference with ETV signals. It is now up to companies with the confidence in long-term generation capacity to make the large initial investments in the equipment.
HARNESSING THE SUN
The handful of solar panel importers have yet to see huge leaps in demand, even with the falling prices of silicone, the main input in solar power generating systems. For now, the biggest consumers are households seeking alternatives to heat hot water boilers on a small-scale and institutions seeking off-grid facilities with the pockets to make large initial investments. Many analysts have predicted big demand coming from rural communities in East Africa. Technologies such as mobile telephones have spread faster than state power suppliers can expand. Indeed, even Ethiopia’s telecom sector itself has installed 8 MW of power in the past 10 years. But the high initial cost to supply the rural community, coupled with low capacity to maintain in comparison with urban areas along with variable performance results have deterred many as potential customers as of yet.
GTZ, however, is on the cusp of remedying some of the underlying problems. The large German aid organization last month powered up a health center in Dulele (outside Welliso) at the launch of a project that will eventually hit 50 facilities. Other projects have attracted lots of attention as well. The Rema facilities prompted a visit by former US President Bill Clinton whose foundation helped fund the project. And in a Sudanese refugee camp in the western part of the country the night has been illuminated by donated solar flashlights costing around 15 USD each.
Digging Deeper
Past the traditional concentration on hydropower, about three kilometers deeper into the ground, arguably lies Ethiopia’s greatest power potential. The seismic activity that created the unique topography of the Great Rift Valley is still occurring but has yet only been harnessed at the Aluto Langano site to generate a mere 7.3mw of geothermal energy. This may change soon as an agreement has already been reached with Iceland to explore the potential estimated to reach about 1000mw, more than the current total production of the country. And Iceland is a good partner as it generates one-quarter of its power from geothermal sources and is expected to complete a project in neighboring Djibouti in the next two years. Welcome news considering geothermal sources do not depend on volatile weather and are the cheapest of all renewables.
A LONG WAY TO GO
Both solar and wind technological development have a long way to go before they are going to be used on a mass scale in Ethiopia. The main factors are the cost of the materials and expertise needed to maintain devices. But while wind is still mostly a large-scale public undertaking, solar is beginning to take its roots on the individual scale. But both renewable energies hold potential with the rising fossil fuel costs and green awareness.
