Ethiopia plans to upgrade electric transmission lines by 16 folds

Nov 12, 2007 Xinhua

Ethiopia plans to upgrade the country's current electric transmission line capacity over 16 times the current one by 2010, the private Daily Monitor newspaper reported on Monday.

The present capacity of the state-owned Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPCo), which is 8,000 km of lines, is to reach 12,000 km and 25,000 km in the next few years, the report quoted Ethiopia's Minister of Mines and Energy Alemayehu Tegenu as saying.

On part of the country's electrification program, the Ethiopian minister said as per its five-year strategic plan, EEPCO will see that the overall capacity of the transmission lines jumps to 130, 000 km, approximately 94 percent increase from its present status.

Alemayehu said the country has huge potential for exportable electric powers to the neighboring countries like Sudan and Djibouti, thereby earning foreign currency.

To this end, he said installation of 4,000 km pipelines with 400 kv will commence soon.

The Ethio-Sudan project (321 km lines with 230 kv) and the Ethio-Djibouti (280 km lines with 230 kv) are some of these activities underway, according to the report.

In Ethiopia's universal electricity access, a five-year program designed to ensure unified and balanced electric power, the country's power supply will reach 50 percent by 2010 and 2.6 million people and 6,000 rural towns will have access to electricity by the same year.

At present, Ethiopia's power supply is 22 percent, which is limited to 1,658 rural towns and 1.4 million subscribers.