Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPCo) approves 300 Megawatt Solar Project in partnership with two U.S. Firms

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, Nov. 7, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Global Trade and Development Consulting together with its Project Development Partner, Energy Ventures, both Maryland-based companies, today announced that they have been awarded the contract by the Ethiopian Ministry of Water and Energy and the Board of Directors of the Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation to build, operate, and transfer three (3), one hundred (100) megawatt solar sites, in the eastern region of Ethiopia. The site selection, due diligence and Feasibility Study were completed earlier this year, receiving both technical and financial approval from both the Minister of Water and Energy and EEPCo.

Ethiopia is in the initial set of countries in President Obama's "Power Africa" initiative. In addition to the needed power generation capacity, a key element of this 300 Megawatt Solar Project, is the economic development resulting in the creation of more than 2,000 construction jobs that would inject millions of dollars into the Ethiopian economy. Ongoing plant operations would yield several hundred new jobs as well.

According to the Honorable Minister Alemayehu Tegenu, Minister of Water and Energy for the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia in Addis Ababa, "This project represents a significant advance in our Ethiopian energy initiative and is now part of our comprehensive Energy Plan. Given Ethiopia's large hydro-electric generation capacity and now wind and geothermal power generation coming on-line, large scale solar fits nicely into our energy portfolio and will provide significant power generation capacity much faster than the other renewable technologies. We welcome this project with open arms."

"We spent months analyzing the potential for a large-scale solar project in Ethiopia. We found that Ethiopia has some of the highest solar irradiance factors in Africa," said Dr. Yonnas Kefle, CEO of GTDC. "As with all our projects, we intend to also maximize the amount of local content and resources in performance of this project."

"We are excited to be the Project Developer leading this important project for the Ethiopia people. The power that this project will deliver will clearly have a dramatic effect on millions of Ethiopian people's quality of life," said Mr. Lynn R. Hogg, Founder and CEO of Energy Ventures.