The Public Private Partnership Directorate General (PPP-DG) of the Ethiopian Ministry of Finance has awarded international developer and operator of power generation and water desalination projects ACWA Power two 125 MW solar photovoltaic projects.
ACWA Power won the bid for the plants during the first round of Ethiopia’s solar programme organised under the new PPP law.
ACWA Power and Ethiopia Electric Power, the State-owned electricity producer, and the Ministry of Finance signed a letter of intent on October 15, with the entities to proceed to signing a long-term power purchase agreement for the projects at $2.52c/kWh over a 20-year period.
With a combined capacity of 250 MW, the projects will contribute to addressing the current energy shortfall, as well as diversifying the energy mix in Ethiopia, where government is currently working to increase the electricity generation capacity from 4 300 MW to 17 300 MW by 2020.
The new plants will be located in Dicheto, in the Afar region, and in Gad, in the Somali region of the country.
ACWA Power was selected as the winning bidder out of 12 prequalified bidders.
While these solar projects will be ACWA Power’s first venture in Ethiopia, the company already operates in Africa – it has solar assets in Morocco, South Africa and Egypt.