Enel green power, an Italian multinational firm hopes to sign the final contractual agreement with Ethiopian Electric Power to begin developing the Methara solar project by the end of next month.
Enel green power was awarded the Methara solar project back in 2017 as a preferred bidder with Orchid Business Group, a local Ethiopian infrastructure company, to build and operate a 100 MW photovoltaic (PV) capacity plant, in Methara area which is some 200 km east of the capital, Addis Ababa.
The company will be investing approximately 120 million USD to build the solar PV plant.
“It’s been a big delay for two years, but we are not surprised because it is the first project and the first one is always challenging,” said Antonio Cammesecra president of CEO of Enel Green Power.
The solar park will be supported by a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with EEP for all of the energy generated by the plant.
“The delay of the Methara project occurred due to technical evaluation, design and studies in connection with environmental impact assessment,” said Sileshi Bekele Minister of Water, Irrigation and Energy.
“Methara Solar Project will be the foundation as no other solar projects are installed so it will pave the way for getting experience, knowledge, technical skills and expertise,” Cammesecra added.
According to Energypedia.info Ethiopia receives a solar irradiation of 5000– 7000 Wh/m² according to region and season and thus has great potential for the use of solar energy. It offers tremendous opportunities to suppliers worldwide, having among the strongest solar resources in the world. In particular, the region offers excellent potential for concentrated solar power and concentrated photovoltaic systems.
Ethiopia has pipeline projects in solar generation as an alternative renewable resource. Ditcheto and Gad are expected to generate a combined capacity of 250MW.
According to the study conducted by RES4Africa foundation, Ethiopia has an installed capacity of generating 5300 MW only from solar energy resource by 2030.
Enel group is present over 30 countries worldwide and involves in distribution of natural gas apart from engaging in generation of renewable energy sources. It also conducts researches and explores the implication of global challenges in energy domain and invests around 700 million Euros in Africa and building 900 MW of wind and solar capacity as of 2019-2021 strategic plans.
Recently the government has awarded 12 solar energy development projects to three Chinese and one Spanish firm with an estimated cost of 10.3 million USD that will be distributed across the country.
The Ethiopian Government is expected to collect nearly 12,000 MW of new hydro, wind, geothermal and solar capacity in the second edition of GTP in partnership with the private sector, with the aim of meeting the country’s electrification needs while diversifying its generation mix in line with the government’s energy plan for the years up to 2020.
According to Cammesecera the company expects to finalize the project with a year to connect to the national grid.