Ethiopian Germany Energy Cooperation (EG-EC) in partnership with Ministry of Water and Energy [MoWE], Petroleum and Energy Authority[PEA], Voith Hydro, Ethiopian Electric Power (EEP), Ethiopian Electric Utility (EEU), KIT and Haramaya University organized a one-day multi-stakeholder experience exchange and learning workshop on Digital Solutions for Optimal Management of Power Plants and Electric Grids in Ethiopia on 9 December 2024 at Haile Grand Hotel.

It has been noted that Ethiopian Electric Power[EEP] entered in to cooperation with Voith Hydro for the rehabilitation of Gilgel Gibe II power plant with a financial support from the government of Germany.

Gilgebe II Power Plant

The workshop presentations from Voith Hydro and Ethiopian Electric power indicated that the technical and capacity building exercises contributed to enhancing the overall performance of the power plant.

During the cooperation period, Voith hydro provided capacity building training services, plant diagnostics and health assessments [ by deployment sound recording sensors inside the plant], critical spare parts supply, remote support and recommendations to Ethiopian Electric Power.

In the workshop, Ethiopian Electric Utility[EEU], and Karlsruher Institut für Technologie [KIT] in partnership with Haramaya University presented the digital initiatives that are currently being implementing in their respective institutions to improve performance in the power distribution sub-sector.

Notably, Ethiopian Electric Utility highlights the implementation of digital initiatives such as Enterprise Resource Planning[ ERP] , Advanced Metering Infrastructure[AMI] and GIS in line with the 30 years smart grid roadmap of the utility.

To date, over 37,000 AMI meters have been installed nationwide for high consumption customers along with 450 distribution transformers equipped with AMI.

Karlsruher Institut für Technologie [KIT] and Haramaya University in partnership with Ethiopian Electric Utility Harar branch has been testing an experimental pilot project hoping to increase the resilience of energy systems in Ethiopia with IoT solutions. By leveraging advanced measurement and communication technologies, the experiment envisions cooperation to an intelligent energy system management in Ethiopia, particularly in the area of distribution transformers.

Coincidentally, the workshop was held a day after the national grid experiences a complete black out due to technical reasons, and the importance of digital solutions have been emphasized by participants.

The Ethiopian digitalization strategy ‘DIGITAL ETHIOPIA 2025 – A STRATEGY FOR ETHIOPIA INCLUSIVE PROSPERITY (June 2020)’ indicates the universal access and service quality of the power sector as being crucial for the digital transformation of the country: Though digitalization of the power sector has not been explicitly articulated, the recommendations imply the need for digital solutions, as stated in the concept note of the workshop.

The question and answer sessions and group discussions enriched the workshop in providing additional insights how digital solutions can be useful tools in advancing universal access to energy, and improving the efficiency of the energy delivery system across the energy value chain- from production to consumption.

Digital solutions, if identified, developed and implemented well, will have a huge role to play in improving the availability of data for predictive maintenance of the power infrastructure, while keeping in mind the cyber security dimension of going online.

End.

Ethiopian Energy Portal: A digital energy magazine that strives to creating an energy active society in Ethiopia.

The Ethiopian-German Energy Cooperation: is a German Energy and Climate Partnership Global Programme established in November 2019 with a joint declaration of intent between the Ministry of Water and Energy (MoWE) of the federal democratic republic of Ethiopia and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) on the establishment of a project-based energy cooperation. This was in the sidelines of the G20 Compact with Africa (CwA) summit. The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH is responsible for the implementation of the project. 

The Voith Group : is a global technology company. With its broad portfolio of systems, products, services and digital applications, Voith sets standards in the markets of energy, paper, raw materials and transport & automotive. Voith Hydro East Africa was established in 2018 and is responsible for coordinating hydropower projects in nine countries in the east of the Africa continent – focusing on business development, sales and technical services for hydropower plants.

Ethiopian Electric Power (EEP):  is a state-owned electric producer in Ethiopia. It is engaged in the development, investment, construction, operation, and management of power plants, power generation, and power transmission above 66 KV line.

Ethiopian Electric Utility (EEU) : is a state-owned power utility company in Ethiopia that provides distribution and retail energy services to customers of up to 66 KV line capacity.