Owned and operated by the ethiopian electric power company, the 145mtall rollercompacted concrete gravity dam. To achieve ethiopias no harm goal, it is important that the gerd, ahd, and sudans reservoirs be operated in coordination by egypt, ethiopia, and sudan. Apr 08, 2019 the grand ethiopian renaissance dam, or gerd, being built in ethiopia is causing worry in egypt, which already faces water and food scarcity challenges. Mar 20, 2020 ethiopia vows to fill dam despite egyptian threats friday march 20 2020 water flows through ethiopia s grand renaissance dam as it undergoes construction work on the river nile in guba woreda, benishangul gumuz region, ethiopia on september 26, 2019. Mar 23, 2020 the stalled negotiations on the grand ethiopian renaissance dam has caused growing tension between egypt and ethiopia. Grand ethiopian renaissance dam project salini impregilo. The gerd reservoir will cover an area of 1874 km 2 at full supply level of 640 m above mean sea level, with total and active storage volumes of 74 bcm 5. Revisiting hydrohegemony from a benefitsharing perspective. The grand ethiopian renaissance dam program in water conflict. Understanding the impacts on ethiopia, sudan and egypt and. Tension spikes despite renaissance dam talks the africa report 09. Egypts water use efficiency is more than 85%, abdel aty tells parties in addis ababa.
Ethiopia began the dam construction in 2011 and plans to complete it in 2020. Pdf forum papers are thoughtprovoking opinion pieces or essays founded in fact. Figure 1 presents the general facts about nile river basin and its flows in the riparian countries. Perspectives on the declaration of principles regarding the grand ethiopian renaissance dam minga negash, seid hassan, mammo muchie and abu girma1 i.
Ethiopia asks to delay final talks on disputed blue nile dam. Addis ababa is looking for an african union role to solve the gerd dispute after rejecting the us mediation and accusing washington of bias, while egypt continues to blame ethiopia for the failure in achieving progress in the. The grand ethiopian renaissance dam gerd constitutes a real crisis for the egyptian regime, where ethiopia several times blamed egypt for the failure of negotiations conducted between sudan, egypt and ethiopia on the dam. At the end of the works, the grand ethiopian renaissance dam will be the largest dam in africa. The grand ethiopian renaissance dam will facilitate flood protection in the lower areas, irrigation, sediment control and navigation. Jan 24, 2014 ethiopia is building one of the largest dams in the world, the grand ethiopian renaissance dam gerd, on the river nile near the sudan border. The ethiopian grand renaissance dam gerd the nile basin. Egypts high aswan dam 3rd largest in the unprecedented. The case of the grand ethiopian renaissance dam deutsches. Contribution of each of the nile main tributaries river flow bcm percentage blue nile 50 59% white nile 11.
The gerd the 8th largest reservoir on earth will soon join. The grand ethiopian renaissance dam on the blue nile. Sudan urges egypt, ethiopia to resume talks on nile dam. Ethiopias grand renaissance dam efficiency international rivers. May 31, 2017 ethiopia gains more support from sudan over the construction grand renaissance dam duration. Ethiopia has a potential for about 45 gw of hydropower. Benefit of grand ethiopian renaissance dam project gerdp. How has the grand ethiopian renaissance dam changed the legal, political. Evaluating its sustainability standard and geopolitical significance article pdf available march 2014 with 8,502 reads how we measure reads. Jul 14, 2014 due to open in 2017, the grand ethiopian renaissance dam will be africas largest hydroelectric power station.
Impacts of the grand ethiopian renaissance dam on downstream. On 15 april 2011, the council of ministers renamed it grand ethiopian renaissance dam. The grand ethiopian renaissance dam gerd is a 6000 mw hydropower project on the blue nile, which the ethiopian government plans to build to fulfill the countrys energy needs. The grand ethiopian renaissance dam gerd will become the largest dam and hydroelectric scheme in africa. Background in 2011, ethiopia began building the grand ethiopian renaissance dam project gerdp on the blue nile river in a place called guba, 60 kilometres from sudan, which hold 74 billion. Sudan on sunday urged egypt and ethiopia to return to negotiations to reach a deal regarding the grand ethiopian renaissance dam gerd. An opportunity for collaboration and shared benefits in the eastern nile basin an amicus brief to the riparian nations of ethiopia, sudan and egypt from the international, nonpartisan eastern nile working group convened at the massachusetts institute of technology on 14 november 2014. The renaissance dam project has sparked a dispute over ethiopia s development needs, versus egypts concerns over water scarcity and climate change. The grand ethiopian renaissance dam could also lead to a permanent lowering of the water level in lake nasser if floods are stored instead in ethiopia. Ethiopia grand renaissance dam as seen it undergoes construction work on the river nile in september 26,2019. Ethiopia pushes for african role in renaissance dam dispute.
The need for ethiopia, egypt and the sudans to reconcile their. Pdf ethiopia has begun seriously developing their significant hydropower. Ethiopia wont be forced by us on dam, foreign minister says. Introduction on march 23, 2015, egypt, ethiopia and the sudan signed a declaration of principles on the grand ethiopian renaissance dam2 gerd. The project is located approximately 500 km north west of the capital addis ababa, in the region of benishangul gumaz along the blue nile. Implications for downstream riparian countries article pdf available in journal of water resources planning and management 1419. This book is about the grand ethiopian renaissance dam newly being built on the blue nile, a transboundary river. Remote sensing of the grand ethiopian renaissance dam. The border project which is known now as the grand ethiopian renaissance dam gerd is a hydropower project being built recently on the blue nile abbay river to generate 6,000 mwh of electricity by exploiting the rivers flow which has an average 1,541 m3s of annual water discharge.
Documents in econstor may be saved and copied for your personal and. The grand ethiopian renaissance dam also known as the grand millennium dam, now being developed near the sudan border in great. Ethiopian officials claimed that egypt requested extending the filling period of the dam to 1221 years. Dam projects and ethiopias counterhegemony in the nile basin. Apr 28, 2020 ethiopia presented on sunday a new defense to justify its conflict with egypt over the grand ethiopian renaissance dam gerd, asserting that the project goes beyond development by being closely related to the survival of ethiopia. In 2011, ethiopia began building the grand ethiopian renaissance dam project gerdp on the blue nile river in a place called guba, 60 kilometres from sudan, which hold 74 billion cubic meters bcm storage capacity and about 60 bcm live storage which will produce 6000 mw electric generation.
The argument over the grand ethiopian renaissance dam. Grand ethiopian renaissance dam, when completed, will reduce the capacity of the. Downstream countries egypt and sudan have expressed concerns over the impacts of the dam on their water supply. Thematic documents of the iii world water forum, comision nacional. Grand ethiopian renaissance dam gerd the grand ethiopian renaissance dam gerd is africas biggest hydroelectric project and the 10 th largest in the world. Commenced in april 2011, the construction of the dam was a source. Ethiopia claims renaissance dam matter of survival. Evaluating its sustainability standard and geopolitical significance. Sudan rejects polarisation attempts in renaissance dam crisis. The renaissance dam crisis and ethiopian allegations. Grand ethiopian renaissance dam project, benishangulgumuz. The main sticking point has been article on water security article 14b. The grand ethiopian renaissance dam and the future of the. The dam will flood 1,680 square kilometers of forest in northwest ethiopia an area about four times the size of cairo, displace approximately 20,000 people in ethiopia, and create a reservoir that will hold around 70 billion cubic meters of water equivalent to the entire annual flow of the blue nile at the sudan border.
Ethiopia s grand renaissance dam is seen as it undergoes construction work on the river nile in guba woreda, benishangul gumuz region, ethiopia september 26, 2019. The development of great ethiopian renaissance dam gerd is causing political escalation of tensions between ethiopia and egypt based on current issues and the expectations for requirements that must be met before the completion of the dam construction. Pdf ethiopia has begun seriously developing their significant hydropower potential by launching. This says member countries would work together to not significantly affect the water security of any other nile basin state. May 22, 2020 ethiopia s grand renaissance dam is seen as it undergoes construction work on the river nile in guba woreda, benishangul gumuz region, ethiopia file. As the grand name suggests, its hard to overstate the importance of the renaissance dam to ethiopia africas most populous nation after nigeriaor the burden that rode on the 54. Ethiopia vows to fill dam despite egyptian threats the east.
Also, the sudanese foreign ministry later held the egyptian side accountable for failure of these negotiations. The gerd is currently in the midst of a largescale political battle between ethiopia, sudan, and egypt. The project, known as the border dam, would have had an 85meterhigh dam, a reservoir just onefifth the size of the grand ethiopian renaissance dam, and a. Why an ethiopia egypt war over river nile dam might be good the east african 14. Ethiopias nile dam project signals its intention to become. The grand ethiopian renaissance dam gerd is a 6,450 mw hydropower project nearing completion on the blue nile in ethiopia, located about 30 km upstream of the border with sudan. The dam was originally called project x, and after its contract was announced it was called the millennium dam. Ethiopian renaissance dam gerd, which is under construction. How efficient is the grand ethiopian renaissance dam. Treaty obligations and the grand ethiopian renaissance dam allafrica 15. Apr 17, 2020 a general view of the blue nile river as it passes through the grand ethiopian renaissance dam gerd, near guba in ethiopia, on 26 december 2019 eduardo soteras afp via getty images april 17. Gigantic nile dam prompts clash between egypt and ethiopia. Ethiopia continued to claim that it took all steps that ensure that the renaissance dam would not harm egypt, but rather claimed that the dam will bring egypt tremendous benefits, playing the role.
In 2011, ethiopia began constructing the grand ethiopian renaissance dam gerd on the blue nile in a place called guba, approximately 60 km from sudan and 750 km northwest of addis ababa. It will be the largest hydropower project in africa. The dam is being funded by government bonds and private donations. The construction of the grand renaissance dam gerd has been a source of tension between ethiopia and. Managing risks of the grand ethiopian renaissance dam on. The diversion of the blue nile river through four new culverts is underway. This would reduce the current evaporation of more than 10 billion cubic meters per year, but it would also reduce the ability of the aswan high dam to produce hydropower to the tune of a 100 mw loss of generating capacity for a 3 m reduction of the water level.
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