ETDE, Bouygues Construction’s electrical contracting and maintenance subsidiary, has won a contract worth €50 million in sales to upgrade the electricity network in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, a city of 4 million inhabitants. The new contract is the second awarded to ETDE this year by the Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPCO), the country’s leading energy producer.

The contract calls for the capital’s existing electricity network, which mainly comprises overhead power lines, to be dismantled and replaced with a secure, partly buried network. The project, financed by the World Bank, will help meet booming demand for energy in Ethiopia, fuelled by the country’s economic expansion, which has seen GDP grow by between 6 and 7% year-on-year. Work under the contract has just got under way, and is scheduled to last 22 months, providing employment for up to 700 locally recruited personnel.

The contract consolidates ETDE’s strong presence in Africa. The company’s recent successes in the Ethiopian market have also contributed to a significant increase in ETDE’s international business: over the past six years, the company has seen business volumes outside France grow ten-fold. International sales now total €500 million, accounting for 30% of overall revenues.

More than 1,000 km (620 miles) of power lines and fibre-optic cables

The Addis Ababa power network upgrade project is split into two packages, corresponding to the underground and overhead sections. The first package mainly involves the construction of medium-voltage buried networks and the associated substations. ETDE’s teams will lay 160 km (100 miles) of power cable and 135 km (84 miles) of fibre-optic cable, as well as installing 80 substations. The second package involves the installation of 270 km (170 miles) of new medium-voltage power lines, 68 substations, 460 km (287 miles) of low-voltage lines, 200 transformers and 18 km (11 miles) of fibre-optic cable. Fibre-optic cable is used for remote operation of transformer stations, enabling power distribution throughout the city to be optimised.

ETDE’s second contract win in Ethiopia

The contract is the second awarded to ETDE by the Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPCO). In January 2008, ETDE won a €9-million contract to design, supply and install 300 km (187 miles) of electric power lines, enabling an interconnection to be established between Djibouti and Ethiopia.

ETDE in Africa: more than €110 million in sales

The new contract gives a further boost to ETDE’s presence in Africa. The company already boasts extensive operations across the continent thanks to a network of subsidiaries with strong local roots (for example in Gabon, Congo and Côte d’Ivoire), and its involvement a slew of major all-trades projects with high added value (encompassing, among other things, UHV power lines in Mozambique, substations in Ghana, street lighting, and electrical & HVAC engineering for a luxury hotel in Senegal). ETDE is bringing the full spectrum of its capabilities in design, installation and maintenance of energy networks, street lighting and electrical & HVAC engineering to bear on the African market.

About ETDE

A subsidiary of Bouygues Construction, ETDE is a turnkey provider and integrator of technical and services solutions for public- and private-sector customers in the energy, industry, service, transport, environment and telecommunications sectors. The company’s operations are based around three clearly structured, customer-oriented business areas: utility networks; electrical, mechanical & HVAC engineering; and facilities management. ETDE offers comprehensive capabilities that encompass engineering, installation, maintenance and operation for both French and international customers. It leverages the expertise, commitment and responsiveness of its 13,000 employees to deliver innovative solutions with high technological added value. Backed by a network of 200 locations across France, and with a presence in 28 countries worldwide, ETDE is predicted to post revenues of €1.8 billion in 2008.