The dream of creating a power self-sufficient Ethiopia is close to the hearts of the nation's power man Mihret Debebe, CEO of the power monopoly, the Ethiopian Electric & Power Corporation (EEPCO).

If current projects are anything to go by, the dream seems ambitious but achievable. That appears to be what Mihret was sharing to Debretsion Gebremichael, the new deputy prime minister for economic and finance clusters and minister for Communications & Information Technology (MoCIT), who is also chairman of the board of the power monopoly, and Alemayehu Tegenu, minister of Water & Energy (MoWE).

A new addition to the national dream that Mihret oversees is the generation of power from refuse, for which the EEPCO awarded Cambridge Industries Energy, a UK-based company. Envisioned to produce 50Mw of power from the refuse of Addis Abeba, the project would cost the power monopoly 120 million dollars.

For a nation that looks forward to optimise power generation from ecologically-friendly sources, the project marks a new era. Mihret is supposedly passionate enough to preach about that era, and its noticeable economic benefits.