Toyota Tsusho partners with Ethiopian Electric Power to construct small-scale geothermal power plant
Toyota Tsusho signed a contract with Ethiopian Electric Power for the construction of the Aluto Langano Wellhead Geothermal Power Plant with a capacity of 5 MW.
The construction funds will be arranged by the Grant Aid program by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) (Grant Agreement amount: 1,842 million yen). The key component of the plant such as a geothermal steam turbine and its generator, will be manufactured and supplied by Toshiba Energy Systems & Solutions Corporation, and the construction work for the plant will be carried out by Egesim Energy Electro-Mechanic Construction Contracting Co., Ltd., a Turkish engineering company.
This project is one of pioneers in the geothermal power plant for commercial use, and expected to be a fundamental development in geothermal power development in Ethiopia.
Electricity Condition in Ethiopia
Electricity demand in Ethiopia has been rising steadily due to a rapid population growth and remarkable economic development. However, hydroelectric power generation, which provides about 90 percent of Ethiopia’s electricity demand, has become unstable due to the impact of climate change in recent years. As a result, electricity shortages in Ethiopia have become serious and the country is forced to implement planned outages.
This situation creates urgent needs for power development in other renewable source for continuous stable power supply. Among the various renewable energy sources, the geothermal power draws higher expectation as a reliable power baseload for its stable availability.
Ethiopia is estimated to have abundant geothermal potential to generate approximately 10,000 MW of electric power, and the Ethiopian government plans to develop new geothermal power plants with a total generating capacity of about 2,500 MW by 2030.
Overview of Business
The geothermal power plant in this project will be constructed in the Aluto Langano geothermal field in central Ethiopia. This geothermal field is classified as a priority development zone from the viewpoint of volume of potential geothermal reservoirs and development costs, and the steam wells development projects in the field has been already initiated with financial support from the Japanese government, World Bank, and others.
This power plant source the steam from already developed existing steam wells, realigning power generation at the early stage of steam filed developments. With this project as a start, it is expected that geothermal power generation development projects will be expanded in Aluto Langano field and others in Ethiopia.
Ethiopia is the second country for Toyota Tsusho to carry out a geothermal power generation project in Africa, following its first project in Kenya. Toyota Tsusho is placing “African Growth Strategy” and “Renewable Energy Strategy” as priority areas in its Mid-term Business Plan.
Based on these strategies, Toyota Tsusho will work on the development of business by utilizing geothermal, wind power, and photovoltaic power generation technologies, contributing to Africa’s growth through the development of energy infrastructure essential for economic development.
