Ethiopia’s ambitious strategy to move to a Climate-Resilient Green Economy (CRGE), with middle-income status and zero-net carbon emission by 2025, is well on its way with support from the Prime Minister and implementation on multiple fronts, including rollout of utility scale renewables and institutional strengthening and restructuring. This is the message from the latest CRGE Highlights newsletter issued by the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MEF) .

At the 7th World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi in January, Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn encouraged private sector participation in exploiting the abundant opportunities for renewable energy in Ethiopia and the continent. In October 2013, Desalegn inaugurated the Ashegoda Wind Farm, the largest of its kind in Africa. The 120MW development was built with French support. It is the first of several wind farms that will generate a combined 724MW. Current energy production capacity stands at 2,177 MW, with ambitions to reach 10,000 MW by 2015 through a mix of hydropower, wind, solar and geothermal.

The newsletter also gives a detailed breakdown of coordinated efforts across several government institutions, both national and sub-national, to implement the CRGE strategy and mainstream it into Ethiopia’s overarching development plan, the Growth Transformation Plan.

The 6th edition of the CRGE Highlights Newsletter can be accessed here.