Context: Recently, Ethiopia has inaugurated the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, Africa’s biggest dam, despite protest from downstream Egypt.
Relevance of the Topic: Prelims: Key facts about Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.
Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam
- Africa’s largest hydroelectric project (largest dam by power capacity).
- GERD is built on Blue Nile (spreads over 2 kms), a tributary of the River Nile.
- Location: Benishangul-Gumuz Region of Ethiopia, near the Sudanese border.
- Height: 145 m. It is designed to hold 74 billion cubic metres of water and generate 5150 megawatts (~5 GW) of electricity.
- Construction began in 2011, and completed in 2025.
- Significance: Electricity generation; Ethiopia can earn revenue by electricity export to neighbouring countries.
Associated Concerns
- Threat to water security: Downstream countries like Egypt (dependent on the Nile for 97% of its water), and Sudan fear that the dam would adversely impact agriculture and undermine water supplies.
- Risk of Military confrontation: Successive Egyptian presidents have even threatened military action if an agreement is not reached between the countries on fair water usage.
Key facts about Nile River:
- The Nile is the longest river in the world. It rises south of the Equator and flows northwards through north-eastern Africa to drain into the Mediterranean Sea.
- Length: ~6650 kms
- The Nile has two major tributaries:
- White Nile: begins at Lake Victoria and flows through Uganda and South Sudan.
- Blue Nile: begins at Lake Tana in Ethiopia and flows into Sudan from the southeast.
- The two rivers meet at the Sudanese capital (Khartoum).
- The Nile River basin spreads in 11 African countries: Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.