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I read the commentary by Haftamu Tafere headlined,
“Power Shortfall Bogs Down Economy” [Volume 9 Number
422, June 1, 2008]. While I am leery of the
authenticity of the growth rate figures that are
thrown around in the commentary, my main contention
with it is the following sentence: “EEPCo, it has to
be said, cannot be held responsible, or be expected
to control the amount of rainfall for each season.”
I cannot disagree with the statement more.
As a sole public entity with the authority to
generate and distribute electric power in the
country, the Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPCo)
is fully responsible for the power shortfall. It is
EEPCO’s responsibility to plan and develop
generation resources to ensure that the current and
future electricity needs of the country are met.
Unless EEPCo’s management is incompetent, or do not
take its responsibility seriously, it is an
extremely easy thing to ensure; power shortfalls of
such crippling magnitude does not ever occur unless
a sudden and violent natural calamity, such as an
earth quake, a volcano, a tornado or a major flood,
hits major infrastructure.
The General Manager’s, Miheret
Debebe, characterization of the problem as being a
victim of one’s fast growth is pure baloney, as one
might say. If accountability existed in Ethiopia,
Mihret and the corporation’s senior management
members and the entire board of directors would
either resign or be fired for failing to perform
their duties.
There is this thing called diversification.
Whatever happened to the wisdom of not putting all
eggs in one basket? Do any of the people who run
EEPCo know about the existence of electric
generation resources other than water power? Do they
not know that if the corporation fully relied on
water for generation, there would be energy
shortfall every time a dry year occurs? Have there
not been enough dry years that triggered other
shortfalls in previous years? Are the people who run
the corporation unable to learn from their own
experience? Or are they saying there can never be a
solution to the problem and Ethiopia will go dark
every time there is a shortage of rainfall?
One extremely simple but permanent solution is
installing a single gas turbine generator such as
LMS100, of about 100Mw capacity. The capital cost of
such a generator is much smaller than that of a
comparable hydroelectric plant and it can be
constructed much faster (in one year or less). In
order to reduce the cost of fuel, the generator can
be operational only when there is heavy demand, or
when thereis a need to conservewater.More
importantly,indry years such as the current one, and
all the previous and future ones, it can be operated
to save Ethiopia from blackouts and their economic
consequences. This is not rocket science!
The blame for the shortfall does not stop with EEPCo
and its management. The government is also directly
responsible, not only because it owns EEPCo, but
also because it plays a major role in running EEPCo
and setting out its priorities.
I suspect that the powers that run EEPCo, whoever
they may be, are so fascinated by the prospect of
selling power to Djibouti, Sudan and Kenya, that
they deem investments that bring reliable supply to
the people of Ethiopia a waste. It may cost billions
of dollars in investments to supply our neighboring
countries. In contrast, it does not take that much
to save Ethiopia from a blackout.
Haftamu goes on to say, “Further, power rationing
and favouring sectors that have a major role in
production, as has been suggested, might, in the
short term, lessen some of the burden and impact on
both the service and manufacturing industries.”
This again defeats common sense! Is electricity not
considered essential for the average citizen of
Ethiopia? Or, is the writer saying it is okay to
keep a million people in the dark “for the greater
good” of enabling 10 factories to run for their own
profit? What is the meaning of GDP growth if it
comes at the price of a reduction in the standard of
living of the average citizen? Common people, let us
start using our God-given common sense. |
