GERD : Ethiopia Renaissance Dam will be completed after three years and will generate 5,150 megawatts of power
Project developer Salini: He said the Renaissance Dam had “many enemies.” The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, which Ethiopia is constructing on the Nile River, will be completed in 2017, according to the project’s general manager, Kifle Horo.
He said the project will start generating 5,150 megawatts of power after three years. “Ethiopia’s current generating capacity of 4,000 megawatts will increase by more than double the number of days,” he said. Upon completion, the dam will cover 40 percent of the country’s energy supply, he said.
He said there was a delay in the construction of the dam. He said the first turbine was expected to be operational in four years. However, when the project started, the government split the contract in two and it was said that there was a planning and technical problem. The government handed over the complex work of the dam to METEC at the time. He said the delivery was not strategic.
GERD : Ethiopia turns on the turbines at giant Nile hydropower plant
Ethiopia began producing electricity on Sunday (20 February) from its Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), a multi-billion-dollar hydropower plant on the River Nile that neighbours Sudan and Egypt have worried will cause water shortages downstream.
After flicking a digital switch to turn on the turbines in the first phase of the project, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sought to assure those nations that his country did not wish to harm their interests.
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“Ethiopia’s main interest is to bring light to 60% of the population who is suffering in darkness, to save the labour of our mothers who are carrying wood on their backs in order to get energy,” Abiy said.
Abiy’s government says the project is key to its economic development, but Egypt and Sudan depend on the waters of the Nile and have worried it will affect them.
Egypt’s Foreign Ministry accused Ethiopia of further violation of a preliminary deal signed between the three nations in 2015, prohibiting any of the parties from taking unilateral actions in the use of the river’s water.
Ethiopia says will fill Nile mega-dam despite impasse, Egypt issues warning
Ethiopia said Wednesday (7 April) it would not be deterred from impounding water at its Nile mega-dam, sparking new warnings from downstream countries Sudan and Egypt, which are worried about their water supply.
The first violations of the initial agreement related to the filling of the dam, the ministry said in a statement on Sunday.
There was no immediate comment from Sudan.
Ethiopia, the second most populous country on the continent, has the second biggest electricity deficit in Africa according to the World Bank, with about two thirds of the population of around 110 million lacking a connection to the grid.
The project will ultimately cost $5 billion when it is completed and become the biggest hydropower plant in Africa by generating 5,150 MW of electricity, some of which will be exported to neighbouring nations, the government says.
The government has so far invested more than 100 billion Ethiopian birr ($1.98 billion) in the project, state-affiliated FANA broadcaster reported. It is located at a place called Guba in the western Benishangul-Gumuz region.