Siemens Gamesa has sealed the deal on its first wind farm project in Ethiopia.
The company will deliver 29 SG 3.4-132 wind turbines to state-owned utility Ethiopian Electric Power for the Assela wind farm project. The 100MW wind farm will help to power more than 400,000 Ethiopian households. The wind farm should be commissioned by 2023 and is set to save the country more than 260,000 tons of carbon emissions annually.
Roberto Sabalza, CEO for onshore Southern Europe and Africa at Siemens Gamesa: “Siemens Gamesa is intent on expanding its leadership across Africa, and in turn help a growing transition to green energy across the continent. So, we are extremely pleased to begin work in Ethiopia and look forward to collaborating with both EEP and the country to continue to promote their drive to install more renewables and meet transformational energy targets.”
This article is reproduced at www.esi-africa.com
The wind farm will generate around 300,000MWh annually and Siemens Gamesa will provide full engineering, procurement and turnkey construction. The Assela wind project will be financed by the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs via Danida Business Finance, adding to a loan agreement signed between the Ethiopian Ministry of Finance and Economic Cooperation and Danske Bank A/S.
Ethiopia wind farming gaining momentum
The 100MW Assela wind farm will be located between the towns of Adama and Assela, about 150 km south of the capital Addis Ababa. The country has set an ambitious target to supply 100% of domestic energy demand through renewable energy by 2030. Ethiopia’s National Electrification Programme, launched in 2017, outlines a plan to reach universal access by 2024, with the help of off-grid solutions for 35% of the population.
In a press release about the project, Siemens Gamesa pointed out that, according to the African Development Bank, Ethiopia has abundant renewable energy resources with a potential 10GW of wind installation capacity.
To date, the country has installed 3 wind farms with a capacity of 324MW. The Assela wind farm will be the country’s fifth wind farm, following Adama wind farm 1, Ashegoda wind farm, Adama wind farm 2 and the currently in development Aysha wind farm.
