Strategies for promoting the use of renewable energy in Ethiopia

The potentials of a few types of renewable energy resources such as hydropower, solar energy, geothermal, wind power and bio-fuel were studied. In this paper, the biofuels include only bio-diesel and bio-ethanol. The current exploited amounts of these resources in the country were described. Although, Ethiopia is endowed with abundant renewable energy resources; the country´s overall energy profile is characterized by heavy dependence on just one source of energy biomass. This accounts for approximately 94% (77% from wood fuels 17% from agricultural residues, dung and charcoal) of the total national energy Consumption in 2001 E.C. The results from the assessment showed that Ethiopia had no Feed-in Tariff policy to promote the grid connected systems. The challenges faced from the resources potential study till utilization of these resources were also identified. The existing opportunities in exploring the potentials and strategies for promoting the use of renewable energies were studied. For promoting renewable energies in Ethiopia, this paper mainly reports on supply, utilization and environmental aspects.