There is no doubt that humans have become more energy dependent than any time in history. A primitive life that was virtually energy independent has developed through time to modernity where life without energy is impossible. Because necessity encourages innovation, almost every century has seen particular innovation in the field of energy. The result is that today there are several sources of energy, and countries supply their demands according to their innovative capacity, natural resources and the ability to buy.<\div>

With the growing innovative capacity and modernism, the quest for electric energy has become a necessity. And indeed the quality and coverage of electricity service is one of the mechanisms to measure the level of development of a country. But electric supply is unfairly distributed across the globe and within countries. In spite of electrification projects that developing countries executed in the last 25 years, currently only 1.3 billion people of those countries have electric supply while nearly 2 billion people still remain without access to modern forms of energy, such as electricity and oil.

Eritrea has a long history of electricity service. During the colonial period, Italians introduced such a service to Asmara and other towns. The following Ethiopian regimes had a destructive role in the Eritrean electricity system and until few years ago Eritrea was vulnerable in the energy sector. Modest improvements came only after the establishment of a Power plant at Hirgigo.

While establishing power plant is essential, it is by no means the core issue. Securing big power plants that can generate enough electric power is too different from fair delivery of the service to all people. In this respect, Eritrea is a case that can be pointed out as a state striving for a fair distribution of the service. Unlike many African countries where electric cable passes from the power plant to cities without electrification of the villages on the way, in Eritrea villages are equally treated as towns and cities. Although it’s primarily the government’s role, the Eritrean villages’ (especially in the highlands) organizational structure and the villagers’ initiative to cover some of the expenses is also worth admiring.

When, due to current oil prices, most of the Third World countries and those of the developed world are reducing their power supply hours, Eritrea has been striving to expand power supply to all of its regions.

With similar projects funded by the World Bank, a country could misuse the fund to pay for other imports. But this is not the case in Eritrea; even in the hardest of circumstances loans and grants are used to carry out the proposed projects.

Beginning from 2003, Eritrea has been generating power from the 88-MW-capacity Hirgigo Power Plant. The plant has four turbines, each with a capacity of generating 22 MW. Currently Eritrea utilizes only half of this.
The first targets of electrification were Massawa, Asmara, Dekemhare, Mendefera, and Keren. The villages and small towns that fall within this grid were also electrified. But as this does not correspond with the government’s policy of equal distribution of services, loan has been secured from the World Bank to expand the supply to villages and towns scattered across the country. As a result of efforts made, Massawa’s old electric cables have been replaced by new and the installation of Asmara’s underground electric cables is due to start in 2009.

Making electricity affordable is as equally important as making it accessible for all. Despite being rich in alternative sources of energy, most developing countries rely more on petroleum products for electric generation duet to lack of technological advance and lack of funds to invest on renewable sources of energy. Attempts that have been made to make electricity prices affordable through subsidies were not found to be productive.

According to the World Bank studies, subsidies often benefit the wealthiest households as this group consumes more power than the poor. This policy has also undermined the financial health of electricity authorities and companies making difficult for them to extend services to rural areas. In other words the wealthy are well treated at the expense of the poor and governments that subsidize as much as 60 percent of the cost.

As a country generating energy from hydrocarbons, Eritrea has no cheap electric tariff. For reasons mentioned above, subsidies are not also welcomed. Yet discriminatory subsidy for newly electrified rural areas might be encouraging at least at an initial stage. Seeking sustainable source of energy, however, is at the center of the energy dilemma.

As a tropical country with more than enough sunlight and wind, Eritrea needs to invest more on the development of these renewable sources of energy. As a matter of fact, solar powered clinical centers and other institutions are quite many in number especially in remote areas of the country. Many farmers use solar systems for irrigation farming and pumping water. As regards wind energy, a high potential has been identified in the Southern Red Sea region with a pilot project already showing promising results.

The start up cost is undoubtedly expensive as compared to hydrocarbon driven engines. But taking the unpredictability of oil prices and its green house gas effects into account, industrialized countries and world financial institutions could help developing countries in alleviating the energy crisis.