Ethiopia is to expand the Aluto-Langano Geo-thermal Power Plant, beginning this month when the equipment will be delivered to the site. It is expected that the project will cost 35 million US dollars.

Several containers of materials have already been delivered to the site and more containers are currently being processed at the dry port, said Miskir Negash, Public Relations Officer with the Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation.

The EEPCo also expects will also import 400 tons of international standard cement in the next few weeks according to Miskir. The proposed expansion will include the digging of four wells each 2500 meters deep to enhance the geo thermal capacity of Aluto-Langano to 70 Mega Watts he noted.

The corporation has been able to confirm that the Aluto steam field can produce up to 100 Mega Watts of power with increased power from this source which is cheaper than other sources helping reduce the unit price charged for power explained Misikir.

The current expansion project is a part of the third phase expansion of the geo-thermal power generation project being funded through a 12 million US dollar grant from the Japanese government, a 13 million US dollar loan from the World Bank and 10 million US dollars financed by the Ethiopian government.

Source: Fortune