The Ethiopian Ministry Mines and Energy (MoME) and the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) organization have struck a deal to work on several energy-related projects, including the development of a digital energy database and information system.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), signed at the end of May, is valid for five months and is geared to streamline the direction and focus on the energy sector and its development. GTZ will also strengthen its support of, and cooperation with the Ethiopian Rural Energy Development and Promotion Center and provide technical assistance, reads the MoU document.

GTZ will also assist in drafting feed-in legislation, grid densification, hydro and solar implementation schemes and support the capacity of service delivery of the ministry in areas to include the clean development mechanism (CDM), carbon financing propositions, and capacity development. Feed-in legislation is a bill yet to be drafted to compel the Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPCo) to buy electric power produced by private investors, Samson Tolessa, officer-in-charge of the Implementation of the Access to Modern Energy Services Ethiopia (AMES-E), a GTZ financed project, told Fortune.

Under the Grid Densification Program, GTZ will assist by covering the initial expense of access to electricity, which includes the cost of meters and cable installation from the main transmission line.

Following the finalization of the initial period of the agreement in October 2009, AMES-Ethiopia will be integrated with the Sustainable Utilization of Natural Resource (SUN) Ethiopia project, under the GTZ Energy Coordination program, into the new Energy Development-Ethiopia Program which is not part of the bilateral Ethiopia-German cooperation; it is an additional contribution as part of a global energizing program.