ETHIOPIA'S RESPONSE TO CONGRESSIONAL REPORTS ON ENERGY

UNCLAS ADDIS ABABA 000414 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR EEB/ESC/IEC B. Glenn Griffin, AF/E, AF/EPS AND OES/SAT DR. FERNANDO ECHAVARRIA E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ENRG SENV APER ABUD ET SUBJECT: ETHIOPIA'S RESPONSE TO CONGRESSIONAL REPORTS ON ENERGY REF: State 10743 ¶1. Post offers the following responses to reftel: ¶A. The Political/Economic section and the Regional Environment, Science and Technology Office share responsibility for energy matters. The Political/Economic section, when fully staffed, consists of 8 FSOs, 1 OMS, 1 EFM and 6 FSNs. The Regional EST Office (REO) has 1 FSO, a part time EFM, and 1 FSN specialist. ¶B. The Economic Officer and FSN Economic Assistant in the Political/Economic section work on energy matters. They each spend about 5% of their time working on energy issues. Within the REO, 1 FSO spends 45% of her time, 1 FSN spends 10% of his time and 1 EFM spends 5% of her time on renewable energy issues ranging from geothermal, to hydropower to biofuels. ¶C. The Economic Officer provides reporting and sectoral analysis on oil and gas, alternative energy and other general energy-related topics. The Economic Assistant provides overall support, especially in the area of macro-economic analysis as related to the energy sector. The Regional EST officer advocates for the development of geothermal energy production through frequent engagement with the World Bank, UNEP, USTDA, DOE, and DOS. She also works closely with the national power and energy authorities to facilitate the exchange of information, capacity building and US private and public support for geothermal exploration and development. Geothermal is an orphan issue in the region. If developed, geothermal power plants could add up to 7000mw of energy to the region in less time, with less capitol and with less environmental damage than it takes to build hydro dams of the same capacity. The REO specialist is an FSN with a master's degree in water resource management and over 10 years experience in integrated water resource management. He follows hydropower and other renewable fuel issues and backs up the REO in geothermal. The REO EFM has a masters degree in environmental science and policy and used to work at the EPA. She follows developments in biofuel policy. ¶D. No section within the Mission has designated State Department funds to support energy-related activities. The REO has proposals from US private sector requesting US support for geothermal feasibility studies, but no funding has been available to date. Yamamoto