Ethiopia signs $600 mln wind farm deal with UAE'S AMEA Power - Reuters.com
Ethiopia signs $600 mln wind farm deal with UAE'S AMEA Power | Reuters
Ethiopia signs $600 mln wind farm deal with UAE'S AMEA Power
- Companies
ADDIS ABABA, Dec 3 (Reuters) - Ethiopia has signed an agreement with United Arab Emirates' AMEA Power for the construction of a 300 megawatt wind farm at a cost of $600 million, its finance ministry said on Sunday.
The Horn-of-Africa nation is turning to renewable energy to boost electricity coverage, which stood at 50% of the population in 2020 according to the World Bank, leaving 60 million people outside of the grid.
The Aysha wind farm will be located on 18,000 acres of land, the ministry said in a statement, and it will create 2,000 jobs during the construction and operational phases.
Dubai-based AMEA Power focuses on renewable energy projects across Africa, the Middle East and other emerging markets.
Ethiopia already hosts two smaller wind power projects in its Oromiya and Tigray regions. The Aysha project will be Ethiopia's biggest wind power generation plant when it is completed, the finance ministry said.
Reporting by Dawit Endeshwa; Writing by Duncan Miriri; Editing by Sharon Singleton
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Related Knowledge Center: Climate economics
Climate change is now a driver of the world’s economy. The impact is profound:
- Catastrophic weather events — hurricanes, floods, droughts, high temperatures — are more frequent and more extreme. The cost can be measured in both the initial damage caused and the longer-term impact on the economy.
- Vulnerable communities are increasing climate-related investments, hardening infrastructure and taking other protective measures.
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- Governments are making investments and crafting regulations to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
On top of all of this is the cost of uncertainty. As the Fourth National Climate Assessment, released in 2018 by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, says, “The assumption that current and future climate conditions will resemble the recent past is no longer valid.”