Ethiopia moves to eliminate grid bottlenecks

From the newsletter

The Ethiopian Electric Utility (EEU) has announced plans to expand and rehabilitate the national grid for the 2025/26 fiscal year. They hope to achieve a 30% reduction in power interruptions and a 38% decrease in outage duration. The move is a direct response to growing public frustration over persistent electricity disruptions across the country.

• Africa’s largest obstacle in enhancing energy access remains outdated infrastructure, especially in rural areas where many still lack reliable electricity. Targeting the grid is an opportunity to mitigate this challenge.

• Ethiopia’s grid suffers from 23% transmission losses and frequent collapses, hindering economic development despite abundant renewable potential.

More details

• EEU plans to construct 8,689 km of new power lines and rehabilitate 1,218 km of medium-voltage lines, installing 1,893 transformers and upgrading 308.7 km of low-voltage lines. It will also expand 86,789 medium-voltage and 92,572 low-voltage lines to support growing capacity demands from industrial and residential consumers.

• Ethiopia has made significant progress in national electrification, yet the disparity between urban areas and rural regions remains high. Its ambitions to generate 19,900 MW of power by 2030 will need it to address its grid situation. Moreover, electricity exports to Djibouti, Kenya, and Sudan will not be possible if the grid is neglected.

• Other countries are also pursuing grid upgrades. In Mozambique, development funding is being provided for the Chimuara-Nacala transmission line. Kenya’s KETRACO is working on multiple projects, including the Sultan Hamud - Loitoktok 132kV transmission line, to improve reliability. Others include Senegal.

• The grid upgrades are also in the form of national interconnection projects between two or more countries. In 2025, a couple have been announced, including the Zambia-Tanzania interconnector scheduled for completion in November this year. The World Bank also launched the West Africa Regional Electricity Market Program with projects like the Ghana-Ivory Coast interconnector, the Mauritania Transmission Corridor Project. Egypt is also planning to expand the Egypt-Sudan interconnector

• Investment flow is quite high in grid infrastructure. The African Development Bank provided extensive financing for the Ethiopia-Kenya interconnector. The Nigerian government secured a $428 million funding pledge from Japan in August aimed for grid improvements. At the same time, Access Holdings offered up to $100 million to assist Zambia in enhancing its power generation and transmission infrastructure.

• Battery energy storage is emerging as a solution to overburdening old grids by utility companies. This year, Nigeria’s Konexa integrated a Battery Energy Storage System into the grid in Kaduna. South Africa’s Eskom and the National Transmission Company of South Africa are overseeing projects procured through the Battery Energy Storage Independent Power Producer Procurement Programme (BESIPPPP).

Our take

• Integrating renewables without upgrading the needed infrastructure for clean energy facilitation is an effort in futility. Power will need to be evacuated to reach consumers.

• Ethiopia’s grid woes represent those of all other African nations. The next step is for them to take notes on handling infrastructure, especially in rural areas where the majority of unelectrified people reside.

• Now that the conversation about outdated grids and infrastructure is on the table, a clean energy revolution is imminent. What this does is set the tone for other needed conversations that will ultimately lead to the successful implementation of renewables.