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China-Africa Trade Information Service
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China-Africa Trade Information Service
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The 'Africa Energy Forum: Off the Grid', and 'Regional Energy Co-operation Summit' meetings will be held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from March 27th to 29th. Ethiopia will launch the second national electrification program.
In the updated version of Ethiopia's National Electrification Program (NEP 2.0), the government provides an update on the progress achieved over the past year and provides a detailed framework for the integration of off-grid technologies with grid connectivity, leveraging on both public and private sector efforts for the achievement of 35 percent of off-grid access by 2025.
Scale-up of off-grid technologies entail both off-grid solar and mini-grids, and the Ministry of Water, Irrigation and Energy (MoWIE) with the Ethiopian Electric Utility (EEU) have already launched 12 mini-grid pilots across the country with potential for scale-up.
Ethiopian sector leaders and international experts to discuss the future of the sector reform program recently launched, including implementation of cost reflective tariff, further unbundling of generation and transmission, and performance improvement of sector institutions. These measures also aim to further attract private sector participation and investments in renewable energy.
Karmen Tornius, Programme Manager for the East Africa conferences in Addis, commented, "This will be the first time the market has heard these announcements, so it's an exciting time for Ethiopia's energy sector. The country presents many unique investment opportunities with its rapidly growing economy and vast population. Coupled with a more open landscape for private investment, the potential is huge."
Senior Director for Energy and Extractives at the World Bank, Riccardo Puliti, said: "Addressing Ethiopia's access deficit is vital to achieving the sustainable development goal towards global universal electrification by 2030."
"The World Bank has been consistently supporting the government's efforts towards integrating grid and off-grid electrification, strengthening the capacity of institutions, and broad-based sector reforms."
