Initiative: Support to the Ministry of Water, Irrigation and Energy (MoWIE) and other government entities – preparing tender documents for mini-grids, pre-feasibility studies, finalisation of SAS tender documents and identification of package of bankable projects.
Challenge
Access to adequate, reliable, affordable and environmentally sustainable energy is fundamental to the economic development strategy of Ethiopia. This can help lift people out of poverty by supporting industrialisation, job creation and export earnings from electricity sales to other countries, but also by creating electricity access for the 70 percent the population (around 70 million people) currently without access. The current rate of electricity access is around 30 percent of which 20+ percent is on-grid access and an estimated 11% of the population is served by different off-grid solutions.
Objective
To fulfil this ambition, Ethiopia has set the objective of rapidly expanding its power generation capacity and become a regional power hub capitalising on its huge potential for renewable energy and its relatively low power generation costs to ensure domestic generation adequacy and increased export earnings from selling electricity to neighbouring countries.
The overall objective of the Technical Assistance is to support the Government of Ethiopia in its efforts to ensure universal access to electricity for all by 2025 by improving the enabling environment for private and public investment in the off-grid sector and by developing a package of bankable projects for electricity access in the off-grid sector.
Approach
The specific objectives of this assignment are to:
1. Support the development of the mini-grid sector, through Identification of a pipeline of mini-grid projects and development of tender documents for mini-grids procurement and installation;
2. Support the development of the SAS market - finalization of the tender documents for Stand Alone Systems and accompany the preparation of pilots;
3. Enabling private sector participation in the off-grid sector in Ethiopia;
A team of 3 specialists (Team Leader / Energy Procurement and Tender Expert, and 2 Mini-Grid Experts) with key expertise in renewable energy, energy sector tenders and finance, regulatory issues and off-grid solutions was engaged to assist MoWIE and associated GoE entities to support the implementation of the “National Electrification Programme”.