Ethiopia has announced the pre-qualification process to identify developers for solar projects.Four projects will be developed under the Scaling Solar Programme in the second round of the International Finance Corporation (IFC).Interested developers can pay a fee of $349 and submit the request for pre-qualification (RFQ) process. The requests will be received by Ethiopia’s Public-Private Partnerships Directorate-General (PPP-DG) up to 4pm local time on May 29.Successful bidders can then take part in the request for proposals (RFP) to participate in the auction bids for securing PV projects at Weranso, Welencheti, Humera and Mekelle. Ethiopia’s engagement with the Scaling Solar program is expected to reduce the country’s dependence on hydro power.
Meanwhile Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has announced that China had agreed to invest $1.8 billion to improve electricity on the Ethiopia-Djibouti line thereby improving electricity supplies to Ethiopian cities and 16 industrial parks. The Chinese commitment was made during the recent Belt and Road Initiative Summit. Large areas of Ethiopia still do not have direct access to electricity. According to World Bank statistics published in 2016,Ethiopia’s average access to electricity stood at only 42.9%.
