Quatari Firm Interested in Investing in Ethiopia's Energy Sector.
A Quatari business firm has shown keenness to invest in Ethiopia's energy and digital tech for agriculture sectors by submitting letter of interest to the Ethiopian Minister of Water and Energy, Dr Ing. Habtamu Itefa.
Minister Habtamu welcomed at his office a business delegation led by Khalid bin Mohammad Al Attiyah, Board Chairman of the Thirty-Five Group, a Qatar based investment holding company. and briefed them on the investment potential in Ethiopia.
"Ethiopia and Qatar have a longstanding relationship which is in a very good shape. Ethiopia is on the high track of economic and other development sectors in Africa. Since energy is the backbone of development, the government has given due attention for its development," the minister said, demonstrating it with the achivement with the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).
Minister Habtamu also explained to the Quatari business delegation Ethiopia's huge renewable energy sources and potential open for the private sector investment. "Ethiopia is blessed with abundant green energy sources largely untaped. We have about 45,000 MW hydro power potential. Second source is solar energy. 4.5 to 5.5KWH per square meter Per day. This is very huge capacity. The intensity of the sun is very high. Wind and geothermal energies are other sources with significant potential to invest in."
Solar power development sites have been identified nationwide, the minister noted.
The bourd chairman for his part said "Ethiopia is becoming an investment hub and a gateway to Africa. We are interested in investing here for two main reasons. One is the financial system and the technology. You are also interconnecting Africa with Ethiopian airlines."
Al Attiyah expressed interest to build solar plants with a capacity of generating up to 300MW electric power.
"The relation between Qatar and Ethiopia is very interesting. But we are working only in development cooperation. Not in investment," Al Attiyah said, signaling a new cooperation are in investment is coming.
Sowing higher investor confidence Al Attiyah said "We want to enter investment very quickly." And mentioned four regions in Ethiopia to operation in development of solar power plants.
