With the untapped energy resources endowed with, lack of legal frame work to involve private companies of both local and international in (PPP) public- private-partnership, lags behind to use renewable energy resources.
This is said while RES4Africa organized its annual conference on a theme of ‘how to enable a step-change in attracting renewable energy investment in Africa” last Wednesday at the Sheraton Addis Hotel.
“We cannot talk of a prosperous Africa without energy at the heart. Energy is vital for the Continental Free Trade Agreement (CFTA), education, health and jobs for our growing youthful population,” said Antonio Cammisecara, President of RES4Africa.
“Bringing RE investment in Africa to transform scale requires overcoming policy and regulatory, administrative and capacity and financing challenges that investors face in emerging economies,” adds Cammisecara.
Africa has tremendous opportunities to deploy its vast renewable energy resources, however, government monopoly of the energy sector is one of the drawbacks in delivering access to energy to the people of Africa which the problems exist in Ethiopia as well.
The Ethiopian government already began the PPP arrangement to involve potential private international companies in the area.
As Ethiopia has the strategy of becoming a world class exporter of large amounts of clean and cheap renewable energies to neighboring countries and manufacturing hub, the Ministry of Water, Irrigation and Energy, is working boldly in order to use the countries potential in solar, wind, and geothermal and other alternative energy sources said Silesh Bekele Minister of Water, Irrigation and Energy adding that regulatory frame work and other necessary documents are in pipeline.
The current energy generation highly relies on hydropower with 3800 MW equal to 89 percent of total generation capacity and the electrification rate of 85 percent in urban areas is high but drops dramatically to 10 percent in rural areas, so only 25 percent of Ethiopian citizens enjoy access to energy.
Studies of RES4Africa focus on attaining a more balanced energy mix between hydro resources, solar, wind and geothermal sources, diversifying mix of energy resource will improve the security of supply and will help mitigate the effect of climate changes.
Bio mass resources from wood residues and sugar waste can also contribute to the energy diversification.
Private companies who are engaged in generating green power like Enel, is offering solutions for countries to implement but not force, adds the president of RES4Africa.
Lack of legal framework hinders use of renewable resources
New home, car loan program set for Ethiopian Airline staff
Six private banks and the state owned Commercial Bank of Ethiopia have offered documents allowing them to provide loans for permanent Ethiopian Airline staff so they can buy homes and cars.
Asrat Begashaw, Manager of Corporate Communications at Ethiopian Airlines said that the negotiations are underway but declined to say which banks are involved.
“I don’t want to mention the names but I can tell you that in two weeks we will announce the winners who will provide loans for our staff.”
“The reason we invited bidders was because we need to retain our workers and allow them to live better lives by providing benefits.”
The new loan system which is expected to be implemented in the next Ethiopian year will incorporate over 12,000 permanent airline staff.
Previously Ethiopian Airlines constructed houses and gave them to its staff, through its own loan system. Employees had to work a certain number of years in order to keep the home. In a 60/40 percent sharing scheme between the airline and its employees, Ethiopian Airlines delivered 1,192 houses, constructed with 1.5 billion birr to its homeowners on July, 2018. The Airline covered 60 percent of the cost of the project in a loan arrangement with its employees.
But the new loan system has no mandatory time requirement for people to keep the house or the car if they pay off the loan.
Founded in December 1945, Ethiopian started operating on April 8, 1946. The first scheduled flight was made to Cairo via Asmara, the capital of Eritrea, in a Douglas C-47 Sky Train.
The national airline had been set up a few months earlier as Ethiopian Air Lines Inc – a joint venture with the American airline, TWA (Trans World Airlines). The National Airline Training Project was set up, in 1957, in Addis Ababa, with help from the US Government, to train local pilots, technicians and supervisory personnel.
In the year 2017/18 the airline earned a net profit of a USD 233 million or 6.87 billion birr and now has over 127 destinations.
Shenzhen Lemi enters Ethiopian solar market
Shenzhen Lemi, Chinese technology development company is to enter the Ethiopian market with its solar application products.
The company held a press conference and showcased its products at the beginning of last week to distributers of solar products at Capital Hotel.
The company has a range of products of off-grid solar home systems, solar street lights, solar controllers and inverters.
According Feng Xie, Chief Executive Officer of Lemi Shenzen, the company plans to make Ethiopia a hub to distribute its product to other African countries.
“The government of Ethiopia has set ambitious targets for expanding access to off-grid energy through solar technologies and Ethiopia’s market will be reliable for our company as we got many certification of quality from different bodies,” Feng Xie adds.
IFC, an arm of the World Bank is supporting renewable energy alternatives through their lighting Ethiopia program said Aster Mihiret representative of IFC adding that IFC earmarked 40 million USD in the form of a loan to support access to electricity including capacity building trainings in collaboration with the government and non-governmental bodies.
In 2014, the company provided 4028 set of PV solar home systems in partnership with the World Bank.
Ethiopia’s energy strategy aims to deploy 300 MW of solar by 2020, which is one of the few countries in the world where the electric grid is nearly 100 percent supplied by renewable resources.
Ethiopia’s government has set ambitious targets for expanding access to off-grid energy through solar technologies which means 33.6 million lanterns, 4000,000 solar house systems and 3600 solar photovoltaic (PV) system for rural health centers, schools and other government offices centers by 2020.
“We are committed to providing high quality solar application which are reliable and cost effective solar power solutions and latest clean energy technologies,” said Feng Xie.
According to International Energy Agency, more than 600 million people in Africa lack access to electricity, of which about two-thirds of the population lives without grid electricity in sub-Saharan Africa.
Established in 2004, Shenzhen Lemi Technologies Development has delivered more than 700,000 sets of high quality products all over the world and well received in more than 30 countries that benefited more than 5 million people in un-electrified areas.
Over 140 million birr earmarked for Republican Guard
For the next budget year, the federal government proposed over 140 million birr for the newly formed Republican Guard who is responsible for safeguarding top government officials and their families.
The Republican Guard was established in the summer of 2018, following the explosion of a hand grenade in the middle of a crowd attending a speech of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in Addis Ababa at Meskel square on 23 June 2018.
Alongside the June 2018 attack, the Office of the Prime Minister linked the establishment of the Republican Guard to other disturbances occurring in Ethiopia even if the security arrangement did not, however, form a force specifically dedicated to this task.
The council of Ministers approved the establishment of the new force unit some months ago. 
The Republican Guards have taken six month special training both in the country and abroad to be highly equipped.
“To anyone who, might be thinking of launching an attack against this country’s leaders, the Republican Guard is capable enough to safe guard any form of aggression and ill-intentioned forces,” said Brigadier General Birhanu Bekele, who is in charge of the Republican Guard, while the members of the guard showcased the skills they acquired during the course of their training. They are skilled in parachute jumping from a flying helicopter, unexpected maneuvering of the direction of a speeding vehicle, Taekwondo defense and attack.
Previously, Ethiopian leaders and officials have been protected by security details assigned by the Ethiopian National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS).
Ethiopia had an Imperial Guard during the reign of Emperor Haile Selassie, but that military unit was disbanded after the emperor was ousted in an army coup in September 1974.
The government also proposed 15 billion birr for the defense ministry in the next fiscal year.
According to a report by Trading Economics, Military Expenditure in Ethiopia remained unchanged at 503 USD Million in 2018 from 503 USD Million in 2017.
