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Ethiopia inaugurates third hydro power plant in a year

  1. Posted on Friday 14 May 2010 - 16:51
    Yohanes
    Image of Yohanes
    By Andualem Sisay
    Continuing its investment on electric power projects, Ethiopia inaugurated today (May 14, 2010) Beles hydroelectric power generation plant, which will be the third hydro power plant the East African nation inaugurated in one year.

    The country spent a total of 7.1 billion birr (around 500 million USD) on Beles Hydro power plant, which has four turbines with power generating capacity of 115 MW each and built on Lake Tana, source of the Nile River.

    The government announced that it has completed Beles project with out external borrowing, reported newbusinessethiopia.com from Addis Ababa. The new plant has the power generation capacity of 460 MW and after generating power 25 percent of the water will be used for irrigating some 120,000 hectares of land and fishing.

    Currently only one turbine is generating power, while the plant is expected to generate the total 460 MW within two months.

    The plant is the third hydroelectric plant that the East African nation inaugurated in the past eight months. Tekeze and Gibe II hydropower plants, which each have power generating capacity of 300 MW and 420 MW respectively, recently started contributing power to the national power grid.

    Meanwhile, not long after it is inaugurated a few month a go, Gibe II interrupted generating power due to geological problem.

    The country spent around 4 billion birr (around 300 million USD) on Tekeze hydro power plant while out the total investment of around 480 million USD on Gibe II project, some 280 million USD was funded as soft loan from Italy. The remaining cost of Gibe II was covered by the Ethiopian government and the European Investment Bank.

    In a related development, Gibe III power generating plant, which around 35 percent of the project is completed, has secured funding this week from Chinese…

    This week the Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPCo) gave hydraulics component of Gibe III project to the Chinese DEC Company. This part of the project is expected to cost 6.4 billion birr (around 470 million USD).

    Gibe III, is believed to generate 1900 MW of electric power when it will be completed in 2013. Meanwhile, amid all these investments the country has only able to cover 35 percent of its territory with electricity and yet it is experiencing power shortage at the moment.

    It is believed that the inclusion of Beles to the national grid will make an end to the power rationing program, at least for a while. Government officials including Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, frequently state that the shortage of power in Ethiopia is the result of the fast growth that the country witnessed over the past five years.

    Ethiopia inaugurates third hydro power plant in a year

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