Ethiopia in deal to export electricity to Somaliland

[Xaaji Xunjuf]

Ethiopia in deal to export electricity to Somaliland

 

A boy fetches water at Lake Turkana in north-eastern Kenya, some 567 km from the capital Nairobi. Lobby groups often criticise hydropower dams built by Ethiopia as it seeks to become a net power exporter for negatively affecting livelihoods of communities.

Monday, March 12 2012 at 12:28

 

 

Kenya, Ethiopia sign power purchase deal

Ethiopia has announced a plan to export electricity to the self-declared autonomous nation of Somaliland.

 

A document released by the Ethiopian Foreign Affairs ministry said that an agreement had been reached with Somaliland officials to connect Addis Ababa's power grid to Hargessa.

 

State-owned utility Ethiopia Electric Power Corporation (EEPCO) also confirmed a broad deal has been reached but that some details were yet to be fleshed out.

 

EEPCO spokesperson Misiker Negash told the Africa Review by telephone that the company was already working to install a power transmission line to Togo-Wuchale, a border town between the two neighbouring countries.

 

"We have already begun the installation on the Ethiopian side and soon we will sign a detailed agreement with Somaliland," Mr Misiker said, adding that both sides were looking for possible financiers of the project.

 

Somaliland is not an internationally recognised nation but the self-declared state has a number of development projects running and initiated with its own people's money.

 

It is seen as comparatively peaceful to the rest of Somalia.

 

Ethiopia has been exporting 80 Megawatts of power to neighbour Djibouti since 2011 and earns $18 million a year.

 

Sudan, Ethiopia's western neighbour, is also being connected with a 300 kilometre high-capacity power grid line to import electricity at the end of this year

 

http://www.africareview.com/Business+++Finance/Ethiopia+to+export+electricity+to+Somaliland/-/979184/1364598/-/15h7f7q/-/index.html