Ethiopia awards 300MW solar project contract to Global Trade and Energy Ventures

The Ethiopian Ministry of Water and Energy and the Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPCo) have awarded the contract to Global Trade and Development Consulting together with its project development partner, Energy Ventures, for the development of 300MW solar PV plants.

Under the contract, the companies will build, operate, and transfer three 100MW solar plants in the eastern region of Ethiopia.

The three projects’ sites were selected and due diligence performed before receiving technical and financial approval from the two Ethiopian government bodies.

Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia water and energy minister Alemayehu Tegenu said that this project represents a significant advance in Ethiopian energy initiative and is now part of the government’s 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," Tegenu added.

The projects will create over 2,000 construction jobs, while ongoing operations will also contribute to several hundred jobs.

Global Trade and Development Consulting CEO Yonnas Kefle said that the company spent months analysing the potential for a large-scale solar project in Ethiopia.

"We found that Ethiopia has some of the highest solar irradiance factors in Africa," Kefle added.

"As with all our projects, we intend to also maximize the amount of local content and resources in performance of this project."