Ethiopia Launches 6,000-Megawatt Hydropower 'Project X'

Written by Industrial Info Resources

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas) Ethiopia's ambitious intentions to exploit the country's hydropower potential and make it east Africa's leader in renewable power for the next five years have taken a major step forward. The Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPCo) (Addis Ababa, Ethiopia) is moving on the construction of a 6,000-MW hydropower scheme, which has been dubbed "Project X" in government circles. Project X will be the foundation of a three-dam project to be launched in 2011 and is part of a plan to build generation capacity to 10,000 MW. Salini Costrutori (Rome, Italy) is reported to have been awarded the hydro installation construction contract for the project. The company already has been active in Ethiopia with the construction of the 420-MW Gilgel 11 and 460-MW Tana Belesa hydropower projects. These two plants provide 47% of the country's present power generation capacity. Salini has a global annual turnover of $1.6 billion and planned works totaling $11.1 billion. Salini already has moved heavy construction machinery to the site and is building personnel camps and site service installations. The site for the project is on the Abay River, which is 40 kilometers from the Sudanese border, in Benishangulk state. EEPCo's project managers on the previous two projects will fulfill the same function of managing the civil and electro-mechanical engineering works on Project X, which could be renamed the "Millennium Project." They will establish a project office for project contracts. Contracts for the electro-mechanical section could be given to a Chinese company, which would open the door for the Ethiopian government to raise funds from the Chinese government for the project. The hydro plant is currently scheduled for completion in 2016. EEPCo is trying to raise its power generation capacity to 8,000 MW when all three of the new projects are commissioned. The company plans a 255% increase in generation capacity; a 155% increase in transmission capacity to an 8,495-kilometer grid; and an increase in total transmission and distribution lines, from 25,000 kilometers to 126,038 kilometers. This will enable it to give power access to 5,163 towns and villages and increase the number of customers from 953,007 to 1.9 million. If the current expansion plans for hydro and wind projects are completed, it will allow EEPCo to keep pace with the growth in local demand and industrial expansion, and to export surplus power to the region. Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. IIR's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle™, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities.

Ethiopia's biggest hydropower plant resumes operation after 11 months

NEWS - AFRICA NEWS


Addis Ababa, Ethiopia - Ethiopia's biggest hydropower plant, without a dam, Gilgel Gibe II (GII), has resumed operation after 11  months since it collapsed in January 2010, state media reported. The state Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPCo) had closed GII due to collapse in its main tunnel weeks after it was officially inaugurated at the beginning of the year.

Energy authorities and the country’s Prime Minister Meles Zenawi had then said that maintenance was to be completed in two months but the costly work in the tunnel took almost the entire year, leading to unannounced power shedding for months.

Geological incidents had caused a major slit in the concrete lining 9kms deep in the over 25kms long tunnel on 22 January, almost a week after inauguration and EEPCo closed the plant  25 January.

GII uses water from another dam constructed more than 26kms away for an existing power plant called GI. After it generates 180Mw at the older station, the water is channeled through 25.8kms long, 6.3m diameter concrete tunnel bowered through chains of mountains to generate 420Mw at GII.

Supported by a steep elevation, two 1,000m long metal penstocks at GII pour the water from the tunnel in the mid-height of a mountain down to the turbines at the bottom, increasing the turbine circulation and allowing the generation of more power.

Located 250kms south-west of Addis Ababa, GII was constructed by the Italian compant, Salini Costractori SpA, at a cost of 281 million euros (US$ 407 million) financing from Italy.

It was opened by Zenawi and Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini, on 13 January.

It was one of the three major hydropower plants Ethiopia inaugurated in the ending year.

Following a power crisis that led to a regular power shedding schedule for almost a decade now, the country has embarked on the construction of more than five ambitious power plants.

While the power shedding got so intense over the past three years, the prospect of ending the crisis with the commissioning of the new plant, like GII grew higher.

Nevertheless, the collapse of GII had made it clear the power crisis was not to end any time soon.

Ethiopia’s landscape and its river basins are said to have given the country a potential to generate over 46,000Mw hydropower but its current electricity generation capacity is 2,000MW, more than double from 2006.

The second most populous nation in sub-Saharan Africa has also signed agreements with Sudan, Kenya and Djibouti to sell power.

Pana 29 december 2010