Details

Background and Rationale

Biomass fuels account for 92% of the total energy consumed in Ethiopia, figure 1a. In particular, fuel wood and animal dung are popular choices to satisfy the energy needs of households in rural areas, figure 1b.

(a) Share of energy use at the national level	(b) Per capita energy consumption
Figure 1: Energy Situation in Ethiopia

As a result of this high demand on fuel wood, forests and woodlands have been severely eroded in Ethiopiaand the remaining areas are declining by 0.5% per year (estimated by FAO). The decline in available fuel wood leads households to use alternative fuel sources, such as dung and crop residue. As a result, these are no longer used to maintain soil fertility which has severe consequences for the yield and long-term productivity of the land.

Most rural households use low efficiency kerosene wick lamps for lighting, because there is almost no access to electricity (less than 5% of rural households has access). This light is insufficient for most tasks, including reading.
Due to the lack of (access to) electricity, most rural households are also effectively cut off from information and communication.

This situation is also the case in the target areas for this project. The project aims to make technologies available to the households to change this situation. The basic technologies include solar lighting, solar cooking and efficient biomass stoves. In areas with plant oil potential, oil stoves and fuel briquettes from oil seed shells will be made available. Similarly, in cattle raring areas, biogas installations will be made available.
These technologies will reduce the time and effort required for fuel collection by at least 90% and will reduce exposure to indoor air pollutants by 80%. These measures are also expected to have the following main benefits:

• Reduce time and effort spent on fuel collection, lessen the risk of accidents and abuse of women and children during fuel collection
• Reduce exposure to indoor air pollutants
• Reduce the pressure on forests and enable returning of crop residues and manure back into the soil
• Increase learning and information opportunities for households due to better lighting with solar energy
• Reduce CO₂ emissions from kerosene and non-renewable biomass.

Target Group and Implementation

The project will be implemented in 6 districts (weredas, in Amharic) in Ethiopia, figure 2. Depending on the size of each of these districts, 3 or 4 Energy Centres will be setup as Small or Micro Enterprise (SME) and they will target a fixed number of households in their direct vicinity (500 households per centre).

Figure 2: Location of project districts

The target groups of the project over the six weredas are therefore the 20 SMEs, the 200 Renewable Energy Technology Center staff members, the 50 rural Development Agents (DAs) and the 10,000 rural and peri-urban households. In addition, the project targets a total of 182,000 households as final beneficiaries, meaning the 1,092,000 inhabitants of the weredas.

These figures have been summarized in the table below:

Technology Mix

The following technologies will be made available to the rural households through the RETCs:

• Fuel Saving Stoves (FSSs)
• Solar Lanterns
• Solar Home Systems
• Solar Cookit
• Plant oil cookers^*
• Biogas digester^*

* only in selected Weredas that fulfil the preconditions

Overall Objective

To contribute to economic prosperity, social well-being and environmental sustainability and climate change (hence to meet the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs)) by increasing access to sustainable household energy.

Access to energy efficient cooking technologies and renewable energy cooking technologies cuts the time and effort required for fuel collection and increases the available time for income generating activities. In addition, access to electricity will increase opportunities for information access and learning.

The action will also reduce physical and health burdens on (primarily) women and girls due to fuel collection and indoor combustion of fuel wood, again increasing the learning opportunities (specifically forgirls) and available time for productive and social application of time for women. The reduction in indoor pollution will also reduce child mortality and improve maternal health.

The project promotes forest resource conservation and helps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions due to the reduction in fuel wood (or other biomass sources) for combustion.

Specific Objectives

1. To increase access to appropriate Renewable Energy Technologies (RETs) and Energy Efficient Technologies (EETs) in the target areas.
2. To enhance the capacity of the community and Renewable Energy Technology enterprises.

Regions, Weredas and Kebeles

The project will be executed in 20 rural Kebeles of Ethiopia. These are Kebeles that don't have access to the national electricity grid nor are they scheduled to be connected within the next five years. The following Kebeles have been selected:

Region Wereda (district) Kebele (sub-district) Tigray Kolatembien Warqamba     Newi     Shilum Elmi Amhara Bati Iela     Qebelle     Garero Oromiya Ada’a Dire     Mirga worku     Gobasaye   Arsi Negelle Adaba Tita     Lepis     Argeda Shedo     Ali Woyo   Boset Dongore Furda     Buta Bedaso     Qawa     Doni(kombe)   Fedis Umerkule     Iftu     Muleta

Kebele Selection Criteria

Selection of the Kebeles was done based on the following criteria:

1. Should be in off grid area (no electricity connection now and for the coming 5-10 years)
2. Should be located in adjacent kebelles (have access to several neighboring kebelles)
3. Preferably near to or on main roads that other kebelle residents use
4. Preferably near to the rural market areas (if any)
5. The kebelle should have a minimum of 500 households
6. Absence or minimum number of entrepreneurs or similar projects of this kind in the kebelle
7. Preferably with a good access to road from the wereda centre
8. A kebelle with a relatively severe problem in terms of deforestation and fuel wood shortage
9. A kebelle who can provide land for centre construction in relatively short period of time
10. Availability of water