Development of Alternative Scenario for Ethiopia’s Electricity Sector by LEAP Software
Ethiopia, a country in Africa, is endowed with renewable energy sources such as hydro, solar and wind. These energy sources are economically exploitable and if electrical energy could be prouduced it could be surplus beyond the country’s demand. Exporting electrical energy, Ethiopia could earn more money without disturbing environment as it is a global warming issue now-a-days. But due to lack of technology, the rich renewable resources are not utilized properly, and as a result, only 15% of the population of the country have access to electricity. In this paper, based on moderate scenario, an alternative scenario for Ethiopia’s electricity sector will be developed to meet its energy demand upto the year 2030. For alternative scenario, the time range from year 2008 to 2030 was considered in LEAP software. In the alternative scenario, hydro and geothermal were judiciously selected as the source of energy. Solar energy was not selected due to its upfront cost which is unbearable by any developing countries. Wind energy was not selected because of seasonal variations in energy production around the year.
