A Young Entrepreneur’s Bid to Make Solar Power Affordable in Ethiopia

Ethiopia is on the verge of a historic energy milestone. The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, slated for inauguration in the coming weeks, will more than double the country’s hydropower output. Yet for tens of millions of Ethiopians, the light switch remains symbolic; electricity access is still out of reach.

Solar power, abundant but underutilized, contributes less than 1% of the national supply. The stumbling block has been cost: panels and installations remain prohibitively expensive for households and small businesses.

For Abel Zerfu, a graduate of Adama Science & Technology, that gap spelled opportunity. He began designing solar combiner boxes, devices that merge power from multiple panels into a single, manageable circuit. By simplifying setup and trimming costs that typically start around $50 per panel, Abel claims his innovation can slash prices by nearly half.

“Without it, large solar setups become messy and hard to manage,” he says.

His startup, Green Hope Renewable Energy, has gradually won clients among real estate developers, institutions, and local solar installers. Uptake has been strong enough to secure a spot as a finalist in the UK-backed Green Future Africa initiative. 

“Some of our clients are generating up to 45 kilowatts for solar pumps using our products,” Abel noted.

Green Hope, now an 18-person operation, recently landed a contract to install solar-powered streetlights in Addis Ababa’s CMC district. But Abel’s ambitions extend far beyond urban fixtures. He envisions his company playing a role in rural electrification, where most of Ethiopia’s unmet demand lies. He’s banking on the arrival of larger solar assemblers, friendlier policies, and reforms like net metering, a system that allows renewable users to offset their bills with the power they generate.

“There is much more that can be done,” he told Shega.

Still, he acknowledges that scaling remains a steep climb. The country’s most visible solar projects, from an African Development Bank-backed plant in the Somali region to photovoltaic farms by the UAE’s Masdar- have relied on deep pockets and state partnerships. For entrepreneurs like Abel, Ethiopia’s formidable solar potential, averaging 5.5 to 6.5 kWh/m²/day, can only be unlocked with significant financial and technical support.

Until then, the promise of off-grid power remains both tantalizing and elusive. For the north of 60 million Ethiopians living without access to electricity, it translates to lost opportunities and precarious energy sources.