State-owned UAE renewable energy company Masdar has signed an agreement with Ethiopia to build 500MW of new solar capacity in the country, as part of the UAE leadership’s visit to Ethiopia.
The latest agreement is part of the Etihad 7 programme, a project introduced by the UAE in January 2022 aiming to install 20GW of renewable energy capacity in Africa by 2035.
In March, Masdar announced plans to develop a 70MW PV plant in the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire, and the Ethiopian project is the next step in the company’s plans for expansion in Africa.
In Ethiopia, the government plans to deliver reliable electricity access to 100% of its urban population by 2025, up from 44% of its total population which had access to electricity in 2019. Much of this planned power generation will come from the renewables sector, with the state planning to bring power generated by renewable sources in particular to six million new citizens by 2030.
Source: Africa News Agency