Tekeze Hydropower dam officially opened

In his speech at the opening ceremony Minister of Mines and Energy Alemayehu Tegegnu said that Ethiopia has given the highest priority to it's power sector development programme. He said after Tekeze, Gilgel Gibe 2 will go operational, while Beles will go operational in the first quarter of 2010, fulfilling Ethiopia's short term energy demands. It is historic for Ethiopia to commission three new hydropower plants in less than a year, said CEO of Ethiopian Electric Power Company Meheret Debebe during the opening ceremony. He called on all of Ethiopia's development partners to support Ethiopia's further energy development.
 
Ethiopia's power generation potential capacity is now estimated at 45.000 MW in hydropower, 10.000 MW in wind power and about 5.000 MW in geothermal power. Currently the government has embarked on the development of 3.270 MW of hydro- and wind power, while additional contracts have been signed for two hydropower projects and preliminary agreements for two additional wind farm projects with capacity of 744 MW. MoUs have been signed for 2 hydropower plants of 1683 MW, while Norway will be funding feasibility studies for Beka Abo and Mandaya hydropower projects, with a potential of 2000 MW each.
As Ethiopia is preparing both for its own rural electrification and power exports 2000 kilometer high voltage lines and 25.000 kilometer distribution lines are currently being implemented.
 
Chinese companies have been instrumental in theTekeze project and the Chinese ambassador said at the opening ceremony that his country was proud to have been part of the project and believed it would contribute to Ethiopia's sustainable development efforts. Norwegian ambassador Jens-Petter Kjemprud was one of five ambassadors present at the opening and said that he was immensely impressed by the Tekeze project and that also Norway looks forward to continued cooperation with Ethiopia in its hydropower development efforts.