ADDIS ABABA: Ethiopia continues to struggle to meet the energy needs of its citizens, but the government hopes new agreements with China and other international investors can help boost the alternative and clean energy sectors, notably wind power for the East African country. According to government officials, speaking to Bikyamasr.com on Saturday after reports the country was looking to bolster its clean energy, Ethiopia is hoping to roll out two large wind power projects for the first time in an effort to increase the country's electricity capacity four times over the next three years. “We see wind power and solar power as alternatives to our large hydro sector because both of these should not be hit as hard by climate change as say water can be,” the environment ministry told Bikyamasr.com. The hope is that the new wind farms will give Ethiopia a surplus of energy that can be exported to other East African countries. While wind power has been seeing success in Asia, the West and to beginning to show promise in North Africa, it has largely been left aside in East Africa. Ethiopia's first steps into this technology call for 7 projects as part of the government's Growth and Transformation Plan, Reuters reported. The first is the 120 megawatt (MW) Ashegoda Wind Farm Project, about 760 km (475 miles) north of the capital, Addis Ababa, in Tigray Regional State. It is set to be commissioned in late 2012 or early 2013 after almost four years of work. The farm will consist of 54 wind turbines with a capacity of 1.67 MW each, and 30 with a capacity of 1 MW. Construction is being undertaken by the French company Vergnet SA at cost of nearly $300 million, with the loan guaranteed by French financial firms. A further project is the 51 MW Adama I wind farm, located about 95 km (59 miles) southeast of the capital, and the only wind power scheme in the Rift Valley. The $117 million Adama project is financed through a loan from the Export-Import Bank of China and being undertaken by the Chinese companies CGCOC Joint Venture and Hydro China. The wind farm was slated to be commissioned by June 2012 but is now reportedly due to be finished this month. It comes as Addis Ababa is looking to tackle climate change issues that threaten drought and famine in the country after agricultural lands were hit hard this year by weak rain.
