Ethiopia and Kenya share electricity over $ 1 billion motorway
Ethiopia and Kenya share electricity over $ 1 billion motorway
ethiopia and Kenya are increasingly relying on renewable energies for electricity production. While Ethiopia all current its national network from renewable sources, the country with the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance is the greatest Africa hydropower plant. In Kenya, on the other hand, renewable energies around 90% The country operates with the geothermal plant in the Olkaria region largest worldwide.
challenges of renewable energies
But the reliance on renewable energies brings challenges: Electricity cannot always be generated if it is needed (a drought can, for example, impair hydropower), and the storage of renewable energies is difficult. A possible solution for this is the Ethiopia-Kenia electricity motorway.
The Ethiopia-Kenia-Stromautobahn
This massive infrastructure project was made last year after a tenth year of construction and a
electricity division in Africa
Experts emphasize that the distribution of electricity between African countries is crucial for a successful transition to clean energy. Darlain Edeme, energy analyst for Africa at the International Energy Agency (IEA), explains that electricity division can "improve quality, reliability, security and have positive effects on prices". This is particularly important for a continent on which the demand for electricity is steadily increasing.
in Ethiopia, which has almost 130 million inhabitants, the electricity consumption per capita between 2000 and 2022 . In Kenya this in the same time by three quarters . At this pace, the demand will continue to increase - Ethiopia launched its national electrification plan in 2017 to achieve universal electrification by 2025. At the moment, however, only about a quarter of rural households have access to electricity.
challenges and investments
With the increasing energy access deficit - i.e. the difference between supply and demand - it makes sense to use resources from neighboring countries together. However, the distribution of electricity requires a sophisticated infrastructure, especially interconnectors - transmission lines that enable the bidirectional current flow across borders or major distances.
The Ethiopien-Kenia-Stromautobahn follows the model of other interconnectors in Africa, such as the between Sambia and Namibia , which has been in operation since 2010 and has cost $ 300 million, or an interconnector between two regions of the Democratic Republic of Congo runs and cost over $ 800 million.
energy supply for East Africa
for the African Development Bank (AfDB), which via $ 300 million contributed to the Ethiopia-Kenia connection, this makes sense. "The population is growing faster than the new connections," said Daniel Schroth, director of the department for renewable energies and energy efficiency at AfDB. "There is a lot of pressure to tackle this energy access deficit."
reduction in power failures
Since the opening of the motorway, Ethiopia's power supply has taken over an important baked function for Kenya, which imports 200 megawatts (MW) every day from the neighboring country - this corresponds to about 10 % of the Kenya National Network. The interconnector has a capacity of up to 2,000 mw.
For many countries in East Africa that suffer from frequent power failures, including Ethiopia and Kenya, access to a backup supply could be life -saving. Alemayehu Wubeshet Zegeye, manager for regional electricity systems in the East African region at AfDB, explained that the new interconnector "will definitely reduce the number of power failures", but cannot completely eliminate it. IEA-Analyst Edeme pointed out that access to backup stream is one thing, but the functioning energy supply companies, however, is something completely different. "The companies are not financially in the best constitution," he said.
connection of the continent
The Ethiopia-Kenia-Stromautobahn, which is also financed by the World Bank, is part of a larger project for the Ostfrican energy network (Eapp), a group of 13 countries that Connect to cover the increasing demand for electricity and to ensure backup supplies.
The EAP is one of five energy associations in Africa that could one day combine the energy supply of each region on the continent with the help of interconnectors. "The vision clearly formulated by the African Union is to create a uniform African electricity market based on the interconnected regional associations," said Schroth. The hope is that with increasing competition, prices for consumers are falling and new sources of income for countries that produce excess energy that would otherwise be lost - without expensive storage systems. Due to the electricity motorway, Ethiopia has already increased its income from electricity export, which was previously limited to jibuti
environmental advantages worldwide
interconnectors are also in demand outside of Africa, with a network of over 400 in Europe. A connection between Spain and Morocco is already linking the electricity supply from Europe and Africa, while another-between Greece and Egypt-is currently under construction and is expected to be until 2029 should be completed.
"I think that there has been a call for mobilization in the past two years," explains Schroth, referring to the increase in interconnector projects on the entire continent and worldwide. "There will be no energy change without transmission."
With more financing and international cooperation, there is hope that Africa will one day become a center for clean energy. "I am optimistic," said Edeme, "I am currently seeing a lot of movement in this sector."
Kommentare (0)