Ethiopian Electric Power (EEP) signed its first power purchase agreement with Corbetti Geothermal on December 19 to buy geothermal power over the next twenty five years.
The Geothermal project which costs USD four billion is located in Corbetti (East Arsi Zone). The Tulu Moye and Abaya projects are excepted to be completed in the next eight years. Each could generate up to 500 megawatts.
According to the deal EEP will pay USD 0.75/kwh for purchasing power from Corbetti and USD 0.695/kwh for Moye and Abaya geothermal power.
Corbetti Geothermal was initially formed by an Ethiopian affiliated company called Rift Valley Geothermal and its Icelandic partner Reykjavik Geothermal. Currently Berkley Energy and Iceland Drilling have joined the company. Berkley is the major shareholder with at 53 percent.
Eng. Azeb Asnake, CEO of EEP and representatives of Corbetti Geothermal; Luca Buljani and Edi Nijorge signed the agreement.
Eng. Azeb said the projects will help Ethiopia meet its power demand.
Giddy about geothermal
TECNO launches its newest addition, Phantom 8, in Ethiopia
TECNO launched its newest addition, the Phantom 8, in Ethiopia on Saturday, December, 23, 2017. The newly launched Android Phantom 8, features a revolutionary camera, attractive design and high speed processor.
“The Ethiopian market is very dynamic and one that appreciates intelligent innovation coupled with aesthetically pleasing design. The all-new Phantom 8 embraces the region’s requirement and is more powerful than ever in both speed and photo quality,” said Chen Haiying, Brand Manager of TECNO Mobile.
TECNO Mobile’s Phantom 8 comes with a front facing camera at 20 megapixels alongside a smart dual selfie flash. Moreover, the double front ring flash ensures taking photos even in a low light environment. It also enables to have a 150 minutes of talk time with only 10 minutes of battery charge.
Phantom 8’s diamond style design comes with a 3D Lighting, unibody metal edge and a 2.5 D Drip Screen-curved battery cover. It also possesses a 6 GB RAM plus 2.6 GHz CPU ultra-fast experience that supports 4G+ and download speed up to 300Mbps.
The new Phantom 8 is compatible with Micro SIM Card and support up to 2TB (Terra Bytes) TF (Trans Flash) Card, and it holds 4modules, 20 bands and covers more than 200 countries and zones.
Save the Children: Resources are scarce to address continuing and emerging humanitarian crisis
Resources are spreading thinly to address humanitarian crisis Ethiopia is facing due to the effects of the drought that occurred in 2015, according to Save the Children. Issues of funding are especially difficult now due to new humanitarian crisis of internally displaced people due to conflict, the agency stated.
“Looking at the recent conflict especially alongside the border of the Oromia and Somali regions and the displaced population, especially children, we are supporting with the access of food, education, clean water and hygiene and sanitation kits for households,” said Roba Halake, Senior Humaniterian Manager at Save the Children
Roba further said that “Obviously there are people that were displaced by the drought we are supporting, on top of that now we have people that have been displaced by conflict and this thinly spreads the resource that we have. The external funding environment is challenging not only for us but for all agencies that work in humanitarian response.”
Save the Children currently provides support for the displaced population with a focus on displaced children. The Agency does its response work following already existing operational footprints. “Funding these days is a problem. Save the Children is doing its best to find ways to address those problems in terms of fund raising, we are continuing our efforts to fundraise and respond to all emerging humanitarian crisis,” Roba said.
Speaking on the Acute Watery Diarrhea (AWD), Save the Children is responding in four regions with the highest number of cases seen in the Somali Region and smaller outbreaks in the Tigray, Afar and Amhara Regions.
“We are working very closely with the regional health bureau and I think one of the positive things that has come is that the regional health bureaus and health staff has gained a lot of experience through these responses, so when there are new outbreaks, we are able to respond more quickly and more effectively,” said Sam Wood, Humanitarian Director at Save the Children.
He also noted that the Agency is not just providing curative treatments to people once they have contracted AWD, but also preventative with health messages to insure people keep themselves safe.
Answering question regarding death rate from AWD, Wood stated “We don’t record data about death so we do not have information about that but we have certainly seen a large number of people contracting AWD and the risks are very significant if you don’t respond quickly. Our focus has been strengthening systems so we can respond quickly and prevent unnecessary deaths.”
AFD concludes celebrations of 20th anniversary in Ethiopia
The French Development Agency (AFD) concluded its 20th anniversary celebrations it commenced this year through several activities. During an event organized at the French Embassy in Ethiopia, the Agency celebrated its many years working in Ethiopia along with invited guests and partners in the development sector.
“Today we are almost operating with offices in 100 countries and one of our footprints is to be able to work in each country with all the different partners, government and public and private enterprises, NGOs. We believe with all our range of financial instruments, we can have maximum impact of our activities,” said Ignace Monkam-Daverat, AFD’s regional director in Africa.
There has been an AFD agency in Ethiopia since 1997, but has been operating in the country since 1993. It operates through loans to the State, direct loans to State-owned companies and guarantees to facilitate access to financing. It focuses on the energy, water and urban development sectors, and also provides strong support to the private sector to boost growth and employment.
“We have been in Ethiopia for 20 years doing good things, we are here also to continue; AFD is a long term partner. We have three sectors of intervention: we are in urban development; urbanization is a challenge in Ethiopia and it will be a big challenge in the future so we are supporting the Addis Ababa municipality and also other towns,” Monkam-Daverat said.
He further said that access to renewable energy is another sector the agency works on in Ethiopia as it is a critical issue that is high on Ethiopia’s agenda. They also want to support the private sector for job creation and partnerships like the one we have with Ethiopian Airlines.
When it comes to urban development, AFD has several projects that include the first Bus Rapid Transit Lane in Addis Ababa and a public abattoir for the city, since 2010, the Agency has been accompanying the Addis Ababa municipality in its solid waste management policy. The Agency also co financed the first wind farm in Ashegoda near Mekele.
