Ethiopian Review

By Addis Mulugeta

Repeated power shortages have led the Government of Ethiopia to task the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) to revise the existing national energy policy of Ethiopia.
The two sides signed a memorandum of understanding on May 27, 2009. The country has faced an alarming decline in water levels in hydroelectric dams across the nation, as well as a growing power demand. These problems resulted in a major power shortage across the nation, Alemayehu Tegenu said at the signing ceremony.
The ongoing revision and updating of the existing national energy policy and development of corresponding energy strategies is the main task, with GTZ focusing on the country’s biomass and renewable energy strategies, owing to its expertise in renewable energies.
Assisting experts at Ministry of Mines and Energy in order to modernise the current energy system, grid densification, and hydro and solar energy implementation are the other contributions expected from GTZ, according to the MoU. GTZ will also be responsible for upgrading the ministry’s service delivery capacity.
Ethiopia has obtained financial support from the Global Energy Development Program of the Netherlands, as well as from the German government, which funds GTZ.
But the finance currently obtained by the Government will not sustain the two sides cooperation beyond the coming October, unless further financing is obtained from donors, Alemayehu said.
The majority of people who live in the countryside are still a long way from accessing energy for household purposes and this has resulted in a high dependance on traditional energy resources, which are not energy efficient and are environmentally unfriendly.
Less than one per cent of the millions of people living in rural Ethiopia have access to electricity. In this case, Access to Modern Energy Service Ethiopia (AMES-E) project which is a German Technical Cooperation – International Service (GTZ-IS) project is working to change that by facilitating electricity access in rural areas.
According to the MoU, GTZ currently manages two energy projects SUN-E (Sustainable Utilization of Natural Resources) i.e household cooking, energy and AMES-E. In its three years of implementation, AMES-E aims to provide sustainable access to modern energy services (hydro and solar electrification) for more than 300,000 beneficiaries living in rural off-grid areas.
Ulrich Mohr, Country Director of GTZ Ethiopia said that Germany has played a leading role in the establishment of the AU-EU energy partnership and improving operational consequences, adding that this agreement means enhanced mutual endeavours to develop the energy sector that plays such a vital role in the development of Ethiopia.
The MoU also includes development of a digital energy database and information systems. It will also strengthen support for and cooperation with the Ethiopian rural energy development and promotion centre.
These programs will be managed by the GTZ energy cooperation office under the direct supervision of the GTZ country director. Until the integration takes full effect in January 2010, the SUN-E project is a component of the bi-lateral SUN program and the AMES-E is the responsibi of the GTZ-IS service program.

(Capital)