Two US companies — Global Trade & Development Consulting and Energy Ventures — have been awarded a contract to construct and operate a project consisting of three 100 MW photovoltaic power stations in Ethiopia.
The contract was awarded by the Ethiopian Ministry of Water and Energy and the Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation. It is expected to result in the creation of 2,000 jobs, several hundred of which would be for ongoing operations. Additionally, it should result in the injection of several million dollars into the Ethiopian economy.
According to PV-Tech, Ethiopian water and energy minister Alemayehu Tegenu said: “This project represents a significant advance in our Ethiopian energy initiative and is now part of our comprehensive Energy Plan. Given Ethiopia’s large hydro-electric generation capacity and now wind and geothermal power generation coming on-line, large-scale solar fits nicely into our energy portfolio and will provide significant power generation capacity much faster than the other renewable technologies. We welcome this project with open arms.”
Setting up Solar in Africa
Image Credit: Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF) on Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND)
This project is part of President Obama’s “Power Africa” initiative. Naturally, it makes great sense to power Africa with renewable energy, as economic hardship tends to be worsened by reliance on imported fuels.
People have been longing for ways to make donations to Africa that will cause sustained economic advancement, and renewable energy is one of the best candidates for such donations.
Once they receive solar panels, they can keep using them for 30 years or more without importing any fuels! Now that is sustainable.
Ethiopia is an East-African country, and in January of this year, it celebrated the manufacture of solar panels in Ethiopia for the first time. Hopefully this is all a sign of much more to come.
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