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Ethiopian Electric Power announced on 23 March that 12 developers have been prequalified to build two solar projects with up to 125MW capacity. A total of 28 bids were submitted for the tender, which is part of the Scaling Solar programme. The prequalified bidders are: Access and Total Eren; Acciona and Swicorp; Actis and Mulilo; Acwa Power; Al-Nowais, Aldwych and Alten; EDF and Masdar; Enel Green Power; Fotowatio Renewable Ventures, Globeleq and Belayab; Ideun Tech and Korea Electric Power Corporation (Kepco); Mitsui; Nareva and Adani; and Scatec Solar.

Ethiopian Electric Power (EEP) has invited prequalification bids by 11 May for the procurement of drilling rigs, and rig operation and maintenance for drilling geothermal wells at Aluto, Oromia. The contract will be delivered over two phases. Phase I includes the supply of two geothermal drilling rigs, heavy machinery, trucks and vehicles, drilling materials and the establishment of base camps.

The World Bank Group’s International Development Association has approved a $375m loan for its Ethiopian Electrification Programme (ELEAP), the World Bank announced on 1 March. This will support the country’s National Electrification Programme (NEP), which aims to achieve universal electricity access by 2025 and is expected to require $1.5bn over the next five years. The NEP was developed with World Bank support and launched in November 2017. It is intended to shift focus away from infrastructure development towards service delivery.

Political decisions are likely to come thick and fast as a successor is chosen to Hailemariam Desalegn, who resigned on 15 February amid turbulent scenes across the country. The 180-member ruling council of the crisis-ridden Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), comprising 45 members from each of its four regional parties, has convened a three-day congress from 1 March to elect a new prime minister. Providing a degree of consensus can be maintained, this should be a set-piece event; the powerful EPRDF executive committee began deliberations on 26 February to hammer out a deal.

InfraCo Africa, part of the Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG), announced on 18 January that a shareholders’ agreement has been signed with Berkeley Energy for the 520MW Corbetti geothermal project. The agreement doubles InfraCo’s equity commitment to the project to $30m; $25m equity finance and $5m in standby equity, representing around 20% of the funding required to begin the drilling of up to six exploration wells this year and building a 10-20MW pilot plant in 2019.

Gigawatt Global and Energiya Global Capital have announced plans to construct ten solar photovoltaic (PV) power plants with a capacity of 10MW each at several university campuses in Ethiopia. The project, which is being discussed with Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, is part of a broader plan to train hundreds of thousands of students in what will be living laboratories for solar and other green energy, according to the solar developer.

Implementation agreements and 25-year power purchase agreements (PPAs) were signed on 19 December by project companies, the Ethiopian government and Ethiopian Electric Power (EEP) for the Corbetti and Tulu Moye geothermal plants in Oromia. Both multi-phase projects are 520MW and are expected to cost around $2.2bn to develop. The agreements are expected to be taken to parliament for ratification early next year and drilling is expected on the first production wells at Corbetti in 2018.

Diplomatic tension between Egypt and Ethiopia has risen in recent weeks as negotiations have stalled over the filling of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (Gerd) and the potential effect it will have on the reallocation of Nile River water rights. If the current rate of construction continues, the testing of power generation could begin next year, but technical studies on the best way to begin the water storage process have not yet been agreed.

Ethiopian Electric Utility (EEU) and Ethiopian Electric Power (EEP) have issued a general procurement notice for the Addis Ababa Transmission and Distribution System Rehabilitation and Upgrading Project, which is being funded by a loan from the African Development Fund. EEU and EEP intend to start the tender process for project supervision and management services this month, with tenders for construction of transmission lines and substations in February 2018.

Delays in finalising Corbetti Geothermal Company’s plans to sell up to 500MW of geothermal power to Ethiopia Electric Power’s grid and hold-ups in major Kenyan schemes that seek to harness the Rift Valley’s huge resources have underlined the slow pace of projects harnessing energy from the earth’s core in eastern Africa. For all the efforts to develop independent power projects and the support of leading multilaterals and initiatives such as the Geothermal Risk Mitigation Facility (GRMF), only the Olkaria complex in Kenya has been exploited so far on a large scale.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) on 12 October said it would support private equity investment across Ethiopia with a $10m investment in the new $100m Cepheus Growth Capital Fund. The EIB said its participation represented its first backing for an Ethiopia-focused fund and one of the first engagements with a single country private equity fund in Africa. The investment was announced during a two-day visit to Addis Ababa by EIB vice-president Ambroise Fayolle.

A consortium led by Enel Green Power (EGP), the most high-profile of the five bidding groups, has been chosen as the preferred bidder for a 100MW Metehara solar photovoltaic independent power project (IPP), in the Oromia region some 200km east of Addis Ababa, the Italian company announced on 23 October. Enel bid with local infrastructure company Orchid Business Group to win out over Fotowatio Renewable Ventures, the Paris-based Meridiam-Solairedirect Consortium, The Building Energy SPA Consortium, and CCE Oasis Technology Corporation.

Progress towards drilling for steam by Corbetti Geothermal Company, the launch of tenders for the 100MW Metehara solar photovoltaic (PV) independent power project (IPP) and the World Bank Scaling Solar programme’s requests for developers to prequalify to install 250MW at two sites suggest that Ethiopia is accelerating efforts to diversify its hydro-dominated energy mix and move a key strategic sector onto a market footing. 
But members of the five developer groups waiting on the Metehara decision, and other potential investors attracted to Ethiopia’s status as one of Africa’s fastest-growing economies, still complain that project implementation moves rather too slowly.

Significant progress is expected on several major independent power projects (IPPs) and other renewable energy schemes that will reduce Ethiopia’s dependence on hydroelectric power.Metehara Solar – a decision on which of the five preselected bidding groups for the 100MW photovoltaic (PV) IPP is said to be very close, with the project in the financial evaluation phase. The five groups include Fotowatio Renewable Ventures, the Paris-based Meridiam-Solairedirect consortium (which has also worked in Senegal), Italy’s Enel Green Power, Building Energy, and China’s CCE Oasis Technology Corporation.

Ethiopian Electric Power (EEP) invites prequalification applications by 16 October from contractors for drilling services at the Dubti field in the Afar region for the first phase of the Tendaho geothermal power project. The contract, which will require the drilling of six shallow and two deep geothermal wells, is being financed by the Agence Française de Développement and the European Union Infrastructure Trust Fund. This project will be jointly implemented by EEP and the Geological Survey of Ethiopia through a project management unit.