27 October 2013, Addis Ababa – The Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation inaugurated the Ashegoda Wind-Farm, the largest wind-farm in Africa, on inaugurated on Saturday October 26.
Ashegoda has a capacity of 120MW and will produce about 400 million KWh a year. The Ashegoda project includes construction of access and maintenance roads for future operations and a new sub-station which interfaces with the EEPCo Power Grid system.
It was completed in 36 months and devised to be executed in phases. All units have now been constructed and are already providing energy to the National Grid. The Wind-Farm is located 18 kilometres from Mekelle, the capital of Tigray Regional State. The feasibility study for the project was carried out seven years ago and the tender for the project was won by the French company Vergnet Groupe who signed a contract with EEPCO in October 2008.
The project was financed by BNP Paribas of France, the French Development Agency (ADF) and EEPCO. The project was the first of its kind in Ethiopia when launched in October 2009 but two smaller wind-farms Adama I and II, with a capacity of 51 MW each have been constructed near Adama in Oromia Regional State in October 2011 and 2012.
