Ethiopia is set to increase power it exports to its neighboring countries; Sudan, Kenya and Djibouti. The plan will be executed in 2 years as installation of transmission lines is in progress.

According to Bizuneh Tolcha, Public Relations and Communications Director at Ethiopia's Ministry of Water, Irrigation and Electricity, feasibility studies regarding export of additional power to the 3 countries had been conducted. The installation work of transmission to Kenya was more than half complete, he furthered.

The power purchase agreement states, Ethiopia will export additional 400 megawatt of electricity to Kenya when the 1045 kilometers transmission line is set up.

"Installation of the 433 km transmission lines heading to Kenya is well on progress and more than 50 percent of the job has been completed. The 612km installation of transmission lines from the side of Kenya is also underway. The other remaining works are construction of substations and converters. The power export scheme will fully be practical before September 2019." Bizuneh explained.

According to the Memorandum of Understandings (MoU) singed between Ethiopia and Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, and Zambia, the Ethio-Kenya transmission line will be extended to these countries.

Commenting on the amount of power exported Bizuneh said; "The amount of power export varies as change in seasons. Currently, we export up to 80 megawatt of power to Djibouti, up to 100 megawatt to Sudan and 10 megawatt of electricity to small border towns in Kenya."

In addition to the above countries, South Sudan and Somali had also signed a power purchase agreement with Ethiopia.

Source: Ethiopian News Agency