Mines, Water and Energy Department

The Department of Mines, Water and Energy (MWED) was first established in 1978 under the name of natural Resources Sub-council and it functioned as Department of Natural Resources from 1990-1994. It got its current name during the restructuring of the Commission in 1994. The Department is one of the five departments organized under the Commission and it comprises three teams; namely:

The Department carries out its duties through the three teams & its activities are guided mainly by the National Mines, Water, Energy & Geo-information Science & Technology Policy. It serves as the secretariat for the National Mines, Water, Energy & Go-information science & Technology Council & the three sub – Sectoral standing Committees functioning under this council.

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The main objective of the MWED is to guide and coordinate the efforts to build and strengthen science and technology capability in the mines, water, energy and geo-information sector that would assist to achieve the socio-economic development goals of the country.

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2. Major Duties & Responsibilities

The major duties and responsibilities of the Department include:-

3. Personnel of the Department

The manpower of the Department consists of a Department Head, a Team leader and an expert for each of the three teams and two secretaries.

4. Programs and Projects Supported

Through the Department

The Commission has instituted a Local Research Grant (LRG) scheme by securing annual budget from the Government since 1985 E.F.Y.

The objectives of the scheme are: to encourage & assist young & potential researchers to undertake R&D activities, promote research areas that are not given due attention by research & higher learning establishments; promote applied research; and raise the standard & quality of local scientific research.

Under this scheme, ESTC grants up to Birr 25,000.00 for a research project & Birr 50,000.00 for application of R&D results.

The LRG scheme in the department of Mines, Water and Energy is handled sub-sectorally through the three teams of the Department.

A total of 76 projects were supported from 1985-1996 E.F.Y (12 cycles) in the Mines, water & Energy sector. The following table summarizes the status of the projects as of January 2004.

The Mines, Water and Energy Department currently follows up two research programs supported by the Swedish Agency for research Cooperation with Developing Countries (SAREC) of the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA). The Two programs in the Water and Energy Sectors are: “Solar Energy Research and Development Program” and “integrated Water Resources Development Research Program in Ethiopia”.

The Solar Energy Research and Development Program is composed for two units: Solar Photovoltaic Application and Solar thermal application. It’s general objective is increasing the application of Renewable energy technologies in tune with the world wide concern of environmental research problems and reduction of heavy reliance on fossil fuels. The research program is run by the Mechanical and Electrical Engineering departments of the Faculty of Technology, AAU. The Swedish Collaborating institution is Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden.

Integrated Water Resources Development Research Program in Ethiopia involves three research components: i) Soil conservation- Erosion & sedimentation ii) Water Conservation- surface & Groundwater and iii) Rural Water Supply & Sanitation- water quality. The objectives of this research program are to establish values of erosion & sedimentation parameters; and develop water assessment, allocation and conservation techniques that can improve rural Water supply. The study site is the Beresa River Catchments which is located South East of Debre Birhan (130 km northeast of Addis Ababa). The Department of Civil Engineering, AAU is running this research program wile the Civil and Environmental Engineering Division of the Hydraulic Engineering, KTH is the S…….. Collaborating institution for the program.

MWED is the focal point for all IAEA matters in the Commission. It facilitates implementation of National, Regional and Interregional Technical Cooperation projects by coordinating follow-up activities of the relevant sectoral departments. Ethiopia is currently cooperating with the IAEA through three major National Technical Cooperation projects, namely;

In addition to this, Ethiopia is participating in 30 regional and 4 interregional projects supported by the IAEA, MWED is the National Coordinator for the African Regional Cooperative Agreement for Research, Development and Training Related to Nuclear Science and Technology (AFRA).

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5. Working with others
The MWED has close working relations with the major institutions involved in scientific & technological activities in the mines, water, and energy & geo-information sectors. The major ones are:

For the mine, water and energy policy click here

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