Cleaner Air from a Big Diesel Plant? Yes, If It Gets Rid of Thousands of Small Ones

Sometimes even good old fashioned electricity made from oil makes the world better: in power-short South Sudan a new power plant will create cleaner air for residents. The goal: cutting down the use of polluting diesel generators by the thousands, with a more sustainable, yet diesel-fueled plant.

Meron Tekie Ezra, managing director of Ezra Group, the Eritrean firm that built the plant, says “Every household, every business has a generator running 24 hours to supply electricity. Now bringing all these in one pool … the city will be much cleaner.”

The plant will benefit around 100,000 households in the new nation as part of a wider aim to bring 100 megawatts of new power by the end of 2021.