Although Ethiopia strives to be the first African nation to export renewable energy, it is making plans to import coal from South Africa.
The Ethiopian Petroleum Enterprise (EPE) will begin importing coal from South Africa to ensure a reliable energy supply to its cement factories. While the East African country has about 628 metric tons of coal reserves, it is not enough to meet the demand of the cement factories. In addition, two factories are not equipped to operate using coal and work will need to be done in order to establish the proper infrastructure.
What is baffling is that with all of Ethiopia’s hydropower and geothermal resources – including the building of the Millennium Dam –is it cost efficient in the long-run to import coal feedstock from South Africa? And while South Africa has coal, it is already being stretched thin among the other South African Power Pool members.
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