Wind energy resource development in Ethiopia as an alternative energy future beyond the dominant hydropower

Over the centuries, energy has been supplied by wood, coal, oil and natural gas, as well as by uranium. All these energy sources are limited and create pollution problems. This has led countries to focus on a sustainable and cleaner energy sources. Wind energy is rapidly emerging as one of the most cost-effective forms of renewable energy with very significant increases in annual installed capacity around the world. In this paper, authors have tried to review the current state of wind power utilization in Ethiopia. First, a brief overview is given on the Ethiopian electric power sector in order to gain insight into the main energy sources of the country and installed electric power capacities. Wind energy potential and current energy policy in Ethiopia were discussed respectively in the subsequent sections. Finally, short reviews of the ongoing and planned wind energy together with other renewable energy projects are given. Ethiopia, a country that relies on hydroelectric plants for the bulk of its power, is now developing significant wind energy capacities. Lack of reliable wind data covering the entire country has been one of the reasons for limited application of wind energy in Ethiopia, but recently studies have shown that Ethiopia has substantial potential to generate electricity from wind, geothermal and hydropower. Considering the substantial wind resource in the country, the government has committed itself to generate power from wind plants by constructing eight wind farms with total capacities of 1116 MW together with a number of hydropower plants over the five year Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP) period from 2011 to 2015. This development of wind power is a part of the current energy sector policy of the country that aims at a five-fold increase in renewable energy production by the end of 2015.