Addis Fortune (Addis Ababa)
Endale Assefa
7 April 2008
A week after the Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPCO) stated that there was no shortage of power in the country, the management on Thursday April 3 admitted that a power shortage has occurred due to the prolonged absence of Belg rain.
In a press conference held at the Corporation's club, Meheret Debebe, general manager of EEPCO said:
"Failure of belg rain, compounded by the evaporation of water from dams, has caused a power shortage in the country amid increasing demand for power. Dams need to be filled to operate to their full capacity".
According to Meheret, the corporation is therefore forced to use diesel power and water pumps to supplement power in the central grid incurring close to 100 million Birr in fuel costs.
Following the power interruption in Addis Abeba and 1,800 cities all over the country for six hours, the corporation has made a recent statement that it is undertaking maintenance tasks before the summer rain which might cause problems in the transmission lines.
According to the Meheret, the much awaited for Tekeze Hydropower Project that was constructed on Tekeze River is being finalized, hopefully to be inaugurated in July, 2008 if completed on schedule.
The Tekeze (300mw) project would be able to curb the power shortage if completed in time, otherwise the country can only hope for heavy down pour and floods in the coming summer, Mihret noted.
According to the corporation, the power demand in April 2007 was 376.32mw, which grew to 391.81mw in June 2007.
The demand increase for power showed a 12pc rise in 2008 compared to similar period in 2007. It was also noted that the demand for power in the rest of the Ethiopian fiscal year would grow by 13pc.
The corporation had told Fortune that the recent power interruptions were not due to a power shortage but due to extended maintenance tasks the corporation were undertaking.
Sendeku Araya, public relations head of EEPCO said that the corporation has so far planted 21 medium-sized diesel generators in all corners of Addis Abeba, especially in Meskel Square, Bole, Mexico, around African Union, Arat Kilo and Semen Mazegaja.
The corporation has also installed five water pumps in collaboration with the Addis Abeba Water and Sewerage Authority at Teferi Mekonen, Jan Meda, Geja Sefer and Ras Hailu.
According to Sendeku, EEPCO also has plans to add 24 generators to satisfy the current need for electricity.
EEPCo is working on additional power projects in Tekeze, Gigel Gibe II, Beles, Windmill, Finchaa, Amerti Neshi and Gilgel Gibe III and when these projects are finalized, the country will have a total electric power of 3270mw.
The corporation has managed to connect 350 thousand customers in the current Ethiopian fiscal year and plans to connect the same number of customers in the next two years.
At present, the corporation has a geographical coverage of 22pc of the country and hopes to cover 50pc by 2010.
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