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HARNESSING WIND |
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Following many years of talk
of the potential possessed
by the country to generate
power using wind, and three
years after the signing of
the contract for the 120MW
Ashegoda Wind Farm, located
23km outside Mekelle Town,
Tigray Regional State, the
first wind turbine was
erected in Ethiopia, two
weeks ago, by Vergnet, the
French company that is
constructing the wind farm
using twin blade tiltable
downwind turbines.
The installation for the
generation of the first 30MW
is to be completed by July
2011, while the remaining is
scheduled for completion by
2013, 36 months after the
commencement of the
installation, according to
the agreement between the
Ethiopian Electric Power
Corporation (EEPCo) and
Vergnet. Seen in the
picture, the nacelle of the
first wind turbine, weighing
around 75tn, is transported
to the wind farm on November
27, after being assembled in
the workshop adjacent to the
site.
In an exclusive interview,
Marc Vergnet, CEO and
founder of the company,
explains the intricacies of
generating wind power and
the technology used by the
company that allows the
turbines to be lowered to
the ground and tied down in
case of storms or cyclones.
“Wind barrel is cheaper than
oil barrel,” he joked to
emphasise his point about
the viability of the energy.
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INTERVIEW
WINDS OF CHANGE
First wind power generation to start in six
month
Vergnet,
a French company, is installing the first wind farm, which
will have the capacity to generate 120MW of electricity, in
Ashegoda, located 20km from Mekelle, Tigray Regional State.
Marc Vergnet, CEO and founder of the company, and Pierre
Pesnel, director of Commercial Sales, sat down with HAILU
TEKLEHAIMANOT, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, two weeks after the company
finished the construction of its first one megawatt turbine,
and discussed why wind farms are viable for a country like
Ethiopia, as well as the rationale behind the technology
they are using. READ
THE INTERVIEW |
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NEWS |
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Change in Ethiopian Work Conditions Not Flying with
Employees |
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A
letter written by the management of Ethiopian
Airlines to all cabin crewmembers notifying them of
a change in the working conditions and compensation
scheme has created resentments among employees.
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Suspected Illegal Phone Operators Cost Gov’t 16.2m Br |
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The Federal Ethics and Anti-corruption Commission (FEAC)
charged 15 individuals with running illegal
international phone calling businesses, on Tuesday,
December 21, 2010, after investigating them for the
past three months.
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Boreh Eyes Djiboutian Presidency |
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Abdourahman Boreh, Djibouti’s prominent
businessman-cum-politician, announced his candidacy
for the top political position in the country, last
week. |
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Askallukan Four Gte 4.5 Years |
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The criminal case of Askallukan Trading Plc came to
an end when each of the four defendants were
sentenced to four and half years imprisonment, fined
5,000 Br, and had their civil rights suspended for
two years by the Sixth Business Process
Reengineering (BPR) Criminal Bench of the Federal
High Court, on Wednesday, December 22, 2010.
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Tax Auth. Expanding HQ at 31m Br |
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The Ethiopian Revenues and Customs Authority (ERCA)
is to expand its headquarters to include two
six-storey blocks, each resting on 625sqm, being
constructed at a projected cost of around 31 million
Br on a plot bordering its existing one.
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Clothes Smuggler Gets Seven Years |
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A
truck driver, who was charged with smuggling an
estimated 1.5 million Br worth of contraband
clothing from Djibouti, to seven years imprisonment
and a 257,300 Br fine, on December 14, 2010, by a
regional high curt in Afar State. |
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TAF Joins Tough Competition in Oil Market |
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Following the construction of three fuel stations by
TAF Oil Plc, a new entrant to the petroleum
business, the local company is set to start
distributing petroleum and petroleum by-products in
about two months.
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Kisheba
Lands Man Max Jail Sentence |
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A
resident of Wolenchiti Town accused of kisheba,
siphoning the weight or volume of exported and
imported items and selling the stolen goods, was
sentenced by the Arada Federal First Instance Court,
Fifth Criminal Bench, to 25 years imprisonment and a
fine of 50,000 Br, on Monday, December 20, 2010.
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E-Filing to Come Online in January |
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As of January 2011, the Ethiopian Revenues and
Customs Authority’s (ERCA) electronic filing (eFiling)
project will allow taxpayers to file their tax
statements online and make payments to the authority
through bank transfers. |
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Discrepancies Confound Bookkeepers |
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Auditors and accountants complained that they are at
a loss for what to do with the discrepancies created
in books when the Ethiopian Revenues and Customs
Authority (ERCA) charges their clients more in tax
than what they claim to have paid for the goods they
import, in what is commonly known as under
invoicing.
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Brehan’s First-Year Loss Lower Than Other Newcomer banks |
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A
newcomer to the banking industry, Berhan
International Bank (BIB) declared a 5.9 million Br
loss after its first nine months of operations; it
amounts to half and one third of the loss incurred
by Zemen Bank and Oromia International Bank (OIB),
respectively, during their first nine months. |
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Lion Ups Net Interest, Noninterest Income |
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While private banks’ aggregate net interest income
showed a three per cent contraction, Lion
International Bank (LIB) managed to increase it by
71.4pc, which brings it to 36.7 million Br in the
2009/10 fiscal year from 21.4 million Br during the
previous year. The performance of the bank was
disclosed at the annual general shareholders’
meeting held at the Sheraton Addis a little over a
week ago. |
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Tana Engineering Plc still waiting for Official Letter
Awarding Contract |
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The bid for the drilling of 26 water wells of 500
metres, which was floated by the Addis Abeba Water
and Sewerage Authority (AAWSA), has been awarded to
two Chinese and one local company.
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City to Serve Seven Rapid Bus Routes by 2013 |
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Addis Abeba is to gain seven new dedicated bus
transit routes at a total cost of 680 million Br
funded by the Addis Abeba City Administration;
Anbessa City Bus Enterprise; and Agence Française
de Développement (AFD), a French development agency;
the first of which is to be implemented as of
mid-2011. |
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FEATURE |
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Bishoftu Farmers Demonstrate for Higher Rent |
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Farmers who have
been renting out their land to companies growing
flowers around Bishoftu, have voiced dissatisfaction
with the price and held demonstrations to try to
convince them to increase the previously agreed upon
price... |
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INTERVIEW |
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EDUCATIONAL EXCHANGE
Befriending Other Side of Tracks for Security, Progress |
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Last week was the
first visit by Allan E. Goodman (PhD) to Addis Abeba
where he participated in a two-day forum between 22
Ethiopian universities and 10 of their US
counterparts. It was the first such academic
conference focused on partnership.
The US could be
the largest home for international students; of the
little over three million worldwide, over three per
cent study in American colleges and universities.
However, Ethiopian students are of the most
underrepresented and number three times less than
those of Kenya, which sent over 4,000 students in
2009.
The conference was
an opportunity to “increase the number” of students
going to and coming from the US in the future,
according to Goodman, president and chief executive
officer (CEO) of the Institute of International
Education, the largest nongovernmental organisation
(NGO) running international student exchange
programmes in the US.
“I want to see
numbers increase both ways,” he told TAMRAT G.
GIORGIS, MANAGING EDITOR, during a brief interview
at the Sheraton Addis. “It is just not enough for
Americans to know that in their classroom there is a
student from Ethiopia. I need to get them to have an
experience here that helps them understand that we
share this world.”
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