Ethiopia has announced that it has begun exporting electricity to Kenya under a 25-year agreement between the two countries, nine months after Addis Ababa’s partial start-up of a controversial mega-dam.
“This is a key project that helps transform diplomatic relations” between Addis Ababa and Nairobi, Ethiopia’s ambassador to Kenya, Bacha Debele, commented on Twitter.
Kenya’s energy regulator confirmed it had started importing electricity from Ethiopia on Thursday. “We will import 300 megawatts in the next three years,” said Daniel Kiptoo, its director general, as quoted in the local press. According to him, Kenya has signed an agreement to buy electricity from Ethiopia for 25 years.
The power line between the two countries has a capacity of 2,000 megawatts and cost $500 million, said Ethiopian Electric Power (EEP). According to EEP, Ethiopia is already selling electricity to Sudan.
This announcement comes as Addis Ababa launched on 20 February 2022 the production of electricity from a disputed mega-dam being built on the Blue Nile. Located about 30 kilometers from Sudan, the Great Renaissance Dam (GDR) is 1.8 kilometers long and 145 meters high.
In August, Ethiopia announced that it had completed a new phase of filling the reservoir, despite protests from Sudan and Egypt, which are concerned about their water supply downstream. The announced power of the dam is more than 5,000 megawatts (MW).
The Blue Nile, which originates in Ethiopia, joins the White Nile in Khartoum to form the Nile, which flows through Sudan and Egypt before flowing into the Mediterranean.