A British state-backed investor has signed power transmission agreements worth about $400 million in Ethiopia, marking a major step in the country’s push to open its electricity sector to
private capital.
Gridworks, which is owned by the UK government and focuses on developing electricity networks across Africa, reached the deals during a visit to Addis Ababa by Britain’s foreign secretary. The trip forms part of a broader UK strategy that links overseas investment and job creation to efforts to curb irregular migration from the Horn of Africa.
The projects represent Ethiopia’s first public-private partnerships in electricity transmission, a sector long dominated by the state. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government has been gradually easing restrictions on private investment as it seeks to modernise the economy and boost growth.
One project will connect Ethiopia’s Somali region to the country’s central and northeastern power grids, improving reliability in an area that has historically suffered from weak infrastructure. The second project is designed to support new wind and solar developments in the northeast while strengthening electricity links with neighbouring Djibouti.
British Ambassador to Ethiopia Darren Welch said the investments would help unlock the country’s renewable energy potential. “Transmission infrastructure is fundamental to growth, jobs and improving lives,” he said in a joint statement issued by the Ethiopian and British governments.
Ethiopia’s finance minister, Ahmed Shide, said the projects would make electricity supplies more dependable, supporting industrial expansion and economic development. He added that they would also speed up electrification for millions of households, with nearly half of Ethiopians still waiting to be connected to the national grid.
Alongside the power deals, the UK agreed to provide up to £17.5 million ($23.9 million) in technical assistance to help Ethiopia strengthen its public investment planning and asset management systems.
Migration remains a sensitive political issue in Britain. The UK foreign ministry says around 30% of people who crossed the English Channel in small boats over the past two years came from Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia and Sudan. Successive governments have struggled to curb irregular migration, a challenge that has fuelled support for Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party, which currently leads several opinion polls. Photo by Ninaras, Wikimedia commons.