Siemens Gamesa has won its first wind turbine order in Ethiopia, as the African country enters what is expected to be a renewable energy boom.

The OEM is slated to supply 29 of its SG 3.4-132 machines to state-owned utility Ethiopian Electric Power (EEP) for its 100MW Assela project, at some 150km south of the capital Addis Ababa.

The wind farm is planned to be commissioned by the spring of 2023, and will help power 400,000 Ethiopian households.

“Siemens Gamesa is intent on expanding its leadership across Africa, and in turn help a growing transition to green energy across the continent,” said Roberto Sabalza, chief executive for onshore Southern Europe and Africa at Siemens Gamesa.

“So, we are extremely pleased to begin work in Ethiopia and look forward to collaborating with both EEP and the country to continue to promote their drive to install more renewables and meet transformational energy targets.”

The manufacturer points to figures from Wood Mackenzie that said 2GW of wind power will be installed in Ethiopia by 2029.

Fellow analyst group Rystad in a November note estimated the country’s renewable power capacity to jump from a current 450MW to 3GW by 2025.

Ethiopia has one of the fastest growing economies in the world and has been expanding its GDP at a rate of 10% in many of the recent years, leading to rapidly rising power needs. Even a mixture of the Covid-19 pandemic, a gigantic locust invasion destroying crops, and a civil war against the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) are seen slowing down growth only temporarily.

The Assela wind project will be financed by the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs via Danida Business Finance (DBF) adding to a loan agreement signed between the Ethiopian Ministry of Finance and Economic Cooperation (MoFEC) and Danske Bank.

Ethiopia still is electrifying large parts of the country, and plans to reach universal access to electricity by 2025 with the help of off-grid solutions for 35% of the population.

Siemens Gamesa said there are already 4GW of its wind turbines installed across Africa, representing 60% of all wind power on the continent, including in Egypt, South Africa, Morocco, Mauritania, the Mauritius Islands, Tunisia and Algeria.

Wind

Siemens Gamesa wins maiden wind turbine order in fledgling Ethiopian market