The Ethiopian Ministry of Water and Energy is to set up two servers to make the national energy data base available to the public. The move follows the completion of the first phase of the Energy Sector Mapping and Database Development project.

The Ministry expects to make the database available through a website hosted on new servers to be acquired following an invitation to bid for their supply.

The type of data to be made available will be dependent on the energy policy of Ethiopia according to an anonymous ministry source.

The energy database is designed in a manner that facilitates the entry, retrieval and update of data from multiple stations to attract private sector investors in power generation.

It is to be remembered that the draft energy feed-in tariff proclamation, which lets the private sector to contribute power to the national system, is to be presented to the Council of Ministers by the Ministry of Water and Energy Resources (MWER). The draft bill was prepared and submitted to the MWER by the Ethiopian Electric Agency (EEA).

The draft tariff sets rates for private power suppliers producing electricity from different sources such as wind power, hydroelectric and biomass.

The lack of a Power Tariff law has meant that independent companies have never attempted to invest in producing energy, according to an energy expert.

The EEA met with the Addis Ababa Chamber of Commerce and Sectoral Associations, experts from the Addis Ababa Institute of Technology, and the Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPCo) before submitting the draft proclamation. The draft had also been submitted to the former Ministry of Mines and Energy for comments twice.

Source: Addis Fortune