The Ashegoda wind farm in northern Ethiopia, once hailed as the biggest in sub-Saharan Africa, has resumed operations after a three-year hiatus due to the war in Tigray state.
Costing 200 million dollars, the Ashegoda wind farm consists of 84 turbines with a total installed capacity of 120 megawatts. However, it did not generate any electricity for the past three years.
The first two years were due to the armed conflict in Tigray, which caused damage to the facility's infrastructure. The third year was spent undertaking maintenance work.
Kahse Tsehay, head of the wind farm operated by Ethiopian Electric Power, said the war damaged turbine units, batteries and main control centers.
With maintenance now complete on 22 turbines, the wind farm is currently generating an average of 24.4 megawatts. Delays in importing spare parts and shortages of personnel and vehicles hampered the maintenance process, according to Kahsay.
Inaugurated a decade ago, Ashegoda remains the largest wind farm in sub-Saharan Africa to date. Meanwhile, Ethiopia is in the process of constructing an even bigger wind farm that will become the largest on the continent.
Last year, the country signed a deal worth 600 million dollars with UAE's AMEA Power for the construction of the 300-megawatt Aysha wind farm.
As it works to expand electricity access, which the World Bank says reached only 50 percent of the population in 2020, Ethiopia is turning to renewable energy sources.
The Aysha project will be developed across 18,000 acres in Somalia region and is expected to create 2,000 jobs during construction and operation.
