Ethiopia doubles electricity production amid tension in the Horn of Africa

ADDIS ABABA - The government of Ethiopia has announced more production of electricity, following the ongoing construction of the Grand Renaissance Dam, which falls within the Blue Nile in the country.

Recently, two more turbines were started in the project, which would see Ethiopia export electricity to neighbouring countries, spearheading massive economic growth in the process.

The multi-billion-dollar Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), long a source of tensions with downstream nations Egypt and Sudan, is now generating 1,550 megawatts of electricity, GERD said in a post on X late Tuesday.

"The overall progress of the GERD has now transitioned from the construction phase to the operation phase," it said, adding that construction of the concrete dam was now complete.

"The two turbines generating 400MW each have now started operations, adding to the already functional two turbines generating 375MW each, totaling an output of 1,550MW," AFP reports.

On Wednesday, Ethiopian Electric Power (EEP) announced that it generated over $25 million in revenue from electricity supplied to companies involved in data mining during the 2023/2024 fiscal year, Addis Standard reports.

Minilik Getahun, Manager of Sales and Customer Management at EEP stated that this revenue is part of EEP’s efforts to increase foreign currency earnings by selling electricity in U.S. dollars to domestic customers.

According to him, by December 2022, nine companies engaged in data mining have been making payments in U.S. dollars, shifting from the previous practice of billing in Ethiopian Birr.

He also highlighted that EEP initially planned to supply 882.48 gigawatt-hours of electricity to these companies, to generate $27.71 million. However, due to various operational challenges, the actual supply reached 796.28 gigawatt-hours, resulting in over $25 million in revenue.

Despite falling short of the supply target, Minilik emphasized that the revenue achieved still represented more than 90% of the projected income. The country is at loggerheads with Somalia over access to the Red Sea.

GAROWE ONLINE