*Over 70% of people in Ethiopia have no access to electricity
*$40M project will aid the transmission of additional bulk power to the Southern and South-Western parts of the Ethiopian Power Grid
*Substations will increase economic activities and raise access to reliable supply of electricity
12 July 2018, Sweetcrude, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia — Aligning with Ethiopia’s Growth and Transformation Plan, GE’s Grid Solutions business (NYSE: GE) (www.GE.com) today announced it has completed a $40M Electricity Transmission System Improvement turnkey project with Ethiopian Electric Power.
The project will raise access to electricity by transferring bulk electric power to the southern and south-western parts of the country. New substations will also help reduce technical losses in the transmission system in the medium term.
“This project will support overall electrification plans of Ethiopia, provide sustainable power and allow the transmission of reliable power from the interconnected system to demand centers across the country and in the region”, said Wudineh Yemane, Project Manager, Ethiopian Electric Power. “It will facilitate the implementation of the Universal Electrification Access program as well as Government’s ambition to export energy to Sudan.”
Over 70% of people in Ethiopia have no access to electricity although the grid covers about 60% of the towns in the country. “There is an urgent need for household electrification,” said Lazarus Angbazo, Regional Leader for GE’s Grid Solutions Business in Sub-Saharan Africa. “This project will significantly reduce high transmission losses while improving system efficiency, stability, and reliability. GE has always been a committed partner to Ethiopian Electric Power (EEP), and we are honored to be able to deliver the largest number of substations to EEP on a turnkey basis with this project.”
GE Power’s Grid Solutions provides complete, engineered solutions for high voltage (HV) substations to power generation companies, utilities, and industries, bringing together the right mix of high-voltage products through expert engineering and full project management. GE Power’s Grid Solutions business has designed and implemented over 1,700 substation projects in the last 10 years.
“This project reinforces GE’s commitment to continuously support the government of Ethiopia in its efforts to upgrade the national grid and achieve its objective of making electricity accessible to all citizens”, said Daniel Hailu, GE’s Country Director in Ethiopia. “It will result in increased economic activities and enable Ethiopia to further exploit its energy potential” he commented.
GE works with the government, corporate customers and other stakeholders in Ethiopia to support economic growth through infrastructure development in the power, healthcare and transport sectors. An integrated GE Ethiopia office was inaugurated in 2017 as a commitment towards long-term partnership in Ethiopia.
