Ethiopia Wants to Connect to the Grid to Power South Africa

The goal of Ethiopia’s Electric Power (EEP) is to grow its electrical grid and establish itself as one of Africa’s leading electricity providers. In order to supply electricity to South Africa, their strategy entails linking the Power Pools in Eastern and Southern Africa.

According to EEP Director General Ashebir Balcha, his organization is actively attempting to link the Eastern and Southern Africa Power Pools in order to close the distance that separates Ethiopia and South Africa by way of Tanzania and Zambia.

This project is a component of Ethiopia’s plan to increase regional power supply-based economic integration around the Horn of Africa. In addition to the surrounding nations with which EEP has agreements or expressed interest, EEP also exports power to Somaliland, Uganda, Rwanda, South Sudan, Djibouti, Kenya, Tanzania, and Somaliland.

Currently, Ethiopia produces 5250 MW of electricity, of which 85% is used domestically and the remaining 10% is exported. Following the completion of the Abbay Dam project, it intends to quadruple its generation capacity. EEP projects that once full-scale sales to Kenya commence, electricity exports will bring in about $200 million USD a year.

South Africa is not the end of the strategy. By building a second electrical infrastructure route, Ethiopia hopes to link to Europe through Egypt and facilitate power interchange between the two continents.