As power shortage is once again challenging the livelihood of Ethiopians, the Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation is to restart running its 30 MW generator at Bishoftu town. Misikir Negash, public relations head with EEPCo, told The Reporter that it was necessary to restart the generator to fill in the power shortage created following the accident at the Gilgel Gibe II hydro-power project. The power shortage was mitigated after the inauguration of Tekeze hydro-power project. The problem was solved when the Gibe II started generation.
However, soon after the Gibe II tunnel was shared by an avalanche of boulders and stopped generation in January, the corporation again faced an acute power shortage which compelled it to interrupt power supply almost every day. Officials of EECo are, however, reluctant to announce that they have started power shedding. A technical team is now working to restart the generator in Bishoftu, by next week. Last year, the generator consumed more than 40 million liters of diesel in nine months.
The Tana Beles hydro power plant, considered as a rescue project, is expected to be inaugurated by the end of next month. The hydro-power project has the capacity to generate 460 MW. The maintenance work of Gibe II will take several months. Officials of EEPCo were unable to give a specific date for the maintenance work to be finalized.
In related news EEPCo is writing letters informing factories not to use electric power during evenings. The corporation is to prevent the factories from using power at times when there was a heavy demand for power. The power shortage is believed to be solved when Beles starts generation and the maintenance work on Gibe Gibe II is finalized. Gibe II, which has an installed capacity of 420 MW, was generating up to 220 MW before the accident occurred.
[Reporter]