CABI has teamed-up with a cross-sector consortium to help estimate demand for small-scale hydropower and solar mini-grids that could power irrigation systems to help ensure greater food production in a remote region of Ethiopia.

The Ministry of Irrigation and Lowlands has decided to end imports of water pumps that run on diesel and/or gasoline and instead focus on green energy options. Emphasis has been placed on adapting solar and other technologies, and currently trial phases are being implemented and some parties are showing interest in participating in it.

BOS AG, a German provider of renewable energy solutions, announced today the development of a major energy project in Ethiopia. In March 2023, the installation of an electrification project will start in several villages of Ethiopia. The mini-grids will be equipped with 405 kVA of inverter/charger and will provide 200 kW of PV Power.

In a country where 56 percent of the population still has little or no access to electricity, achieving universal access to electricity in the next couple of years is an ambitious goal. This is, however, exactly what the Ethiopian government hopes to achieve by 2025 through a combination of grid and off-grid based solutions.

EnDev is currently supporting the construction of a 140 kWp mini-grid along four other sites across the country. This solar mini-grid will electrify 870 households, enterprises in the village, and thereby, increase the income-generating opportunities for the local community.

Experts estimate the total number of bajajes in Ethiopia in 2022 to be around one million. Bajajes are born to be fully electrified; they travel short distances, carry a relatively small load, and mostly operate in densely populated areas. The duration of a trip is less than two hours, and vehicles return to the same location after each trip.

Ethiopia will increase its reliance on solar energy, including solar mini-grids, to electrify its population. The Ethiopian Petroleum and Energy Authority (PEA) has awarded the country’s first ever commercial mini-grid licence to Humanitarian Energy (HumEn), an Ethiopian-based company owned by the NGOs Mercy Corps and Rensys Engineering and Trading