Ethiopia commences electrify generating from Blue Nile

The government of Ethiopia has disclosed the commencement of electricity generating from the Blue Nile on Sunday. The country’s mega dam, Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), was being developed in the Blue Nile since 2011 as the largest hydroelectric project in the continent of Africa.

A government official in Ethiopia, speaking on the condition of anonymity, was cited to have said on Saturday, “Tomorrow will be the first energy generation of the dam.”

The Ethiopian government had projected that $4.2 billion (3.7-billion-euro) hydroelectricity dam to generate over 5,000 megawatts of electricity, doubling Ethiopia’s electricity output.

Ethiopia had initially planned an output of around 6,500 megawatts but later reduced its target.

A scholar of the Brookings Institution in Washington, Addisu Lashitew, had expressed the optimism that “The newly generated electricity from the GERD could help revive an economy that has been devastated by the combined forces of a deadly war, rising fuel prices and the Covid-19 pandemic.”

Egypt and Sudan had opened negotiations with Ethiopia on the hydro power project, contesting that the dam constitute a threat to their dependence on Nile waters for domestic needs. Ethiopia insisted that the dam is crucial to the electrification and development of the country.

Egypt has been mounting pressure on Ethiopia to sign an agreement on the filling and operation of the dam.

It was indicated that the 145-metre (475-foot) high dam is located on Blue Nile River in the Benishangul-Gumuz region of western Ethiopia, adjacent to the border with Sudan.

Egypt was said to depend on the Nile for about 97 per cent of its irrigation and drinking water.

Sudan is expecting that the dam will control yearly flooding, however, Sudan is perturbed that the country’s dams may be damaged if there is no agreement on the GERD’s operation.

Ethiopia contended that filling is a natural part of the dam’s construction process and cannot be halted.