ADDIS ABABA, May 9 (Xinhua) -- Ethiopia plans three new hydro projects as part of its ambitious strategy to meet its power generation capacity to 17,300 Mega Watts (MW) by 2020, a government official said Tuesday.
The country currently has an installed energy capacity of 4,200 MW from hydro, wind and geothermal energy sources.
Minister of the Ethiopia Ministry of Water, Irrigation and Energy Sileshi Bekele made the announcement on the sidelines of the 2017 World Hydro Congress, which is being held here from May 9-11.
Bekele says preliminary works on the 2,160 MW Koysha hydro project in southern Ethiopia has started while preliminary studies are being done on the 385 MW Geba and the 1700 MW Tams hydro projects.
The bulk of finance for the Koysha hydro project, which is expected to need 1.7 billion dollars to finish, has already been secured last year with an Italian export credit agency SACE.
