Last week, Ethiopia signed a deal with French wind turbine-maker Vergnet to construct Africa’s largest wind farm. It is expected to produce 120 megawatts within two and a half years, equal to 15 percent of the country’s current energy capacity. The first turbines will be installed in 16 months and will generate 30 megawatts. The $286 million project is financed by French bank BNP Paribas and the French Development Agency.
These projects come at a crucial time for Ethiopia, which relies mainly on hydroelectric power. The country has been plagued by drought and power failure in recent months. This wind farm will put Ethiopia on track to clean, consistent power production and will hopefully draw attention to the need for similar projects throughout the continent.
via Greentech Media
Image via Vergnet
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written by Clinch, October 17, 2008
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written by Derek, October 17, 2008
Yes solar power would certainly make sense for almost any African nation, but this may have come down to cost or the fact that solar technology is rapidly changing. There are so many changes happening in solar right now with the advancement of new cells and increase in efficiency that investing a lot into a huge solar farm right now would probably be pretty foolish.
What they can do, and maybe doing, is waiting for some new products to come onto the market before they invest heavily into solar. What they can do in the meantime is get some of these wind turbines up and running and then, when things are stable, bring on solar (along with storage facilities) to help out with heavy-usage days (if there are any).
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written by Phillip, October 22, 2008
The reason wind power is being used rather than solar, is that a rotating wind mill is a lot harder to steal than a solar collector.
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written by Rob, November 09, 2008
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written by GREGZ, December 19, 2008
In Ethiopia, the key factor in mitigating energy problems (both current and future) is to accelerate the Reform program. Starting with an overall efficiency improvement of EEPCO, unbundling first the power distribution activity first (it could be fine if the five regional offices of EEPCO are changed towards separate companies owned by states or a board representing interestgroups, stimulate competition in the generation activity of the power sector, diversify technology mix particularly in renewables, ... do you all agree?
If anyoneof you wish to have moredetails on the issues i raised or if you have contributins you are wellcome.
GREGZ
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written by Uncle Stoat, January 11, 2009
Theoretically, a suitable stirling engine can produce enough work (in the physics sense) to pump water and a suitable glasshouse farm could drive desalination - with even better results if all these are tied together.
Solar water heating alone could knock 10-20% off a tropical country's fossil fuel budget and most of the technology can be built from locally avilable materials - which is a big difference to being dependent on foreign aid and technology and hanving major downtimes if anything breaks.
(Yes I know about swamp cooling, it only works if the humidity is below 50% AND if you have a lot of available water)
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