Recently, in the desert at the border of Ethiopia, Djibouti, and Somalia, a white wind turbine slowly rotated its blades, converting the strong winds from the East African plateau into electricity and sending it to factories and towns along the Addis Ababa Djibouti railway. This Ayesha wind farm, constructed by Oriental International, has a total installed capacity of 120 megawatts and is transitioning from 32 units of Chinese made permanent magnet direct drive wind turbines in the first phase to full capacity grid connection in the second phase.

48 units will be promoted in two phases

The Ayesha Wind Power Project is located in the border area of three countries, with a total of 48 wind turbines with a single capacity of 2.5 megawatts installed. All of them are developed by Dongfang Electric Wind Power Co., Ltd. and have high stability and superior grid adaptability. Complete wind farms, substations, and transmission lines will be constructed to support the project. The first phase of 32 units has been fully put into operation, providing continuous power supply to the Somali region of Ethiopia, the Dredawa Industrial Park, and the Addis Ababa Djibouti Railway; The first wind turbine in the second phase has been successfully connected to the grid, and the expected annual power generation after completion is 467 million kilowatt hours, adding an important coordinate to the green energy map of East Africa.

High temperature and fuel shortage

Project construction is not always smooth sailing. The project team is facing multiple challenges such as high temperature and drought, tight fuel supply, and difficult material transportation in the local area. Based on the actual situation on site, the construction schedule is scientifically arranged, and favorable operation window periods are fully utilized. Domestic and foreign resources are coordinated and deployed, and key processes such as lifting, installation, and system debugging are continuously optimized. During the grid connection debugging phase, the project team collaborated with local engineers to systematically promote various debugging and acceptance work, ultimately achieving the successful integration of the first unit into the grid. Keywords: New energy latest news、Wind power new energy news

Reshaping the Energy Landscape in East Africa

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy stated at the commissioning ceremony of the first phase of the project that it is a model of clean energy cooperation and a key step in promoting Ethiopia's move towards a regional energy hub. After full production, Ethiopia's electricity export capacity to Djibouti will significantly increase, transforming it from an electricity importing country to a regional electricity exporting country. Dongfang Electric has previously undertaken several landmark projects in Ethiopia, such as the Jibu 3 Hydropower and Koisha Hydropower. The promotion of Aisa Wind Power has further consolidated China's leading position in the East African market for clean energy equipment, outlining a long-term cooperation map for hydropower, wind and solar complementary projects for overseas enterprises.Editor/Gao Xue