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A
delegation led by Kiraitu Murungi, Kenyan minister
of Energy, is coming to Addis Abeba through the
invitation of the government of Ethiopia for talks
about financing the Ethio-Kenya electric power
interconnection project.
The last time a Kenyan delegation came to Addis was
in June 2009. John Rao Nyaroro, director of Water
Resources of Kenya, led a delegation of senior
authorities on energy and hydrology matters to
Ethiopia to hold discussions on the construction of
the Gilgel Gibe III hydroelectric power-generation
plant on the Omo River. After the construction of
the dam on the Omo River, which is one of the major
tributaries supplying roughly 80pc of the water to
Lake Turkana, groups contended that the livelihoods
of the people dependent on the lake would be
negatively affected.
Ethiopia, following the Power Interconnection
Agreement signed between the two countries, has
already committed itself to selling power to its
neighbour beginning in 2012. Almost a quarter of the
electric power expected to be generated from the
Gilgel Gibe III dam, whose capacity is 1,870MW, is
planned to be exported to Kenya.
“The feasibility study for the interconnection
between Ethiopia and Kenya has already been
finalized,” Alemayehu Tegenu, minister of Mines and
Energy, told Fortune.
Ethiopia also has agreements to export 200MW to
Djibouti and Sudan each when Tekeze (300MW), Gilgel
Gibe II (420MW), Beles (460MW), Fincha (100MW) and
Gilgel Gibe III start to feed power to the national
grid.
The arriving delegation will meet with Ethiopian
counterparts from the Ministry of Mines and Energy,
the Ethiopian Electricity Agency and the Ethiopian
Electric Power Corporation, Alemayehu told
Fortune.
Eddy Njoroge, CEO of Kenya Electricity Generating
Company Ltd (KenGen), is also expected to join the
meeting. KenGen has, just in the last week,
announced that it has interests to invest in
hydroelectric plants in Ethiopia.
“We want to be equity holders,” Njoroge told
Bloomberg in an interview last Thursday November
26, 2009. “Ethiopia has good hydropower potential
and it is very cheap.”
The CEO is expected to come up with a proposal at
the meeting.
“We might look into their plan if they come up with
one,” Alemayehu said. |
