Ethiopia - Assela Wind Farm Scaling-Up Renewable Energy Program Project Preparation Grant

Ethiopia is a least developed country (LDC) with a low level of electrification; only about 10% of the country is electrified with less than 1% of rural areas having access to electricity. In 2011, Ethiopia passed an ambitious path to sustainable development, the Climate Resilient Green Economy (CRGE) Strategy. Included in this strategy is a plan to achieve 100% electrification, by area, by 2025. This will result in total electric power demand growing from 4 Terawatt-hr (TWh) in 2010 to a maximum of nearly53 TWh in 2025.In order to achieve this level of electrification, a significant amount of capacity must be added to the Ethiopian electricity grid. The Ethiopian Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP) envisions increasing the power generation capacity of the country from the present level of 4300MW to 12,300MW by the end of 2020. The GTP-IIalso envisions a diversification of the electricity grid, which is currently hydro power dominated. For this purpose the GTP-IIsets the target of developing 800MW wind power capacity until 2020, and 2000 MW until 2030. However, these targets require substantial investment, which can only be made viable at the anticipated scale through additional CER revenue.