Black Rhino looks at renewable power investments in Ethiopia

By Aaron Maasho

ADDIS ABABA Oct 28 (Reuters) - Black Rhino, owned by funds of U.S. investment company Blackstone Group, said on Wednesday it was looking at investments in Ethiopia's power generation sector.

A foray into the country's power industry would be Black Rhino's second large-scale infrastructure involvement after it signed framework agreements last month to build a fuel pipeline between Djibouti and Ethiopia.

The $1.55 billion pipeline, due for completion in 2018, aims to improve efficiency and safety of importing fuel from the port in Djibouti to the land-locked country.

"We are currently assessing other opportunities in Ethiopia such as hydro and wind. That is something we are very interested in and engaged in," Shilesh Muralidhara, a Johannesburg-based developer at Black Rhino, said.

"We want to be here for the long term," he told Reuters.

With one of the continent's fastest-growing economies, Ethiopia wants to become a manufacturing hub and Africa's top electricity exporter by tapping the numerous rivers that flow across its highlands.

Ethiopia has an array of projects under construction, such as the $4.1 billion Grand Renaissance Dam that will churn out 6,000 megawatts upon completion within the next five years, as well as 1,800-megawatt Gilgel Gibe 3 Dam in its southern region.

Under a new 2015-2020 development plan, Addis Ababa also wants to add 12,000 additional megawatts of capacity through planned projects from hydropower, wind and geothermal sources.   Continued...