Ethiopia and Sudan power grids soon to be linked

By Tesfa-Alem Tekle

January 14, 2012 (ADDIS ABABA) – The Ethiopia-Sudan power transmission line will be completed earlier this year connecting Ethiopia to Sudan’s power grids, according to the Ethiopia Electric and Power Corporation (EEPCO).

The energy link is expected to be completed by first quarter of this year and will allow power trading between the two east African neighbours.

Ethiopia plans to sell an initial 100MW of electricity to Sudan as an example of Ethiopia’s capacity to export power. The Horn of Africa country has recently begun exporting 35 MW of electricity a month to Djibouti earning up to USD$1.5 million every four weeks.

The Ethiopia-Sudan transmission project will enable Khartoum to replace its thermal power generating units with Ethiopia’s renewable and clean hydro-power generated energy.

The World Bank funded $41 million 230KV transmission line will be 296km long. The transmission line stretches between the Ethiopian towns of Bahir-Dar and Metema and connects with a transmission line in the Sudanese border town of Gedaref.

With an estimated potential of producing 45,000 MW of hydroelectricity, Ethiopia is considered among continent’s leading natural energy producers. The country has however exploited only a portion of this huge resource from its many rivers.

To cope up the ever-growing power demand and also as part of the country’s ambitious five year growth and transformation plan, Ethiopia is investing billions of dollars into build massive hydropower dams.

Ethiopia is hoping electricity will eventually replace coffee as its biggest export when the power plants under construction and other new dams are completed over the next 5 to 10 years.

There is also a line being built toc onnect Ethiopia with Kenya.

The long-term plan of these projects is to eventually link Ethiopia’s hydro-electric power source to the rest of East Africa via Tanzania.

(ST)