Ethiopia officially inaugurated the great Renaissance prey of the Grand Ethiopia, on September 9, which set a compact concrete gravity project of $ 5 billion in the Nile River, which is now found as a largest hydroelectric installation in Africa and a source of national pride and regional tension.
In state media statements, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed greeted the event as “a symbol of the Renaissance of Ethiopia”, adding that the dam “is not built to harm Egypt or Sudan, but to illuminate our homes, feed our factories and integrate our region”, according to a Reuters Pool Pool report. The ceremony was also attended by Pietro Salini, CEO of Webuild Group (formerly Salini impregnation), who designed and built the project.
Engineering and delivery
The dam rises approximately 145 m above the riverbed and extends 1,780 m long, with a structural volume of more than 10 million m³ of concrete compacted with rollers, according to the data published by the Ministry of Water and Energy and Webuild.
The company says raspberry is the largest RCC gravity ever built in Africa by volume, and on December 28, 2014, its crews set a world record, placing 23,000 m³ of RCC in 24 hours. Its deposit, one of the largest in the world, has a storage capacity of 74 billion m³, flooding an area of approximately 1,874 km² in the complete pool.
When the 13 Francis turbines are commissioned, Gerd will generate up to 5,150 MW, equal to the production of three medium -sized nuclear reactors, with an expected annual generation of 15,700 GWH, according to a statement by email to ENR of Webuild.
Six turbines were already in operation at the time of the inauguration, according to the Financial Times, who reported that they will “all be used” after the September 9 ceremony. African energy, citing two sources familiar with the project, also confirmed that all units are expected to be prepared for the complete trade operation “imminently”.
The construction of the project began in 2011 with an initial budget of $ 4.8 billion. The reach grew as design changes and additional electromechanical systems were incorporated, which meant the final price at about $ 5 billion. Civil works included Redissenyes of Sella dams and spill updates, while the installation and commissioning of turbines are in progress.
The main engineer of the project, Simegnew Bekele, a state employee, had been the public face of the project, managing the early stages until he was assassinated in July 2018. His death caused a widespread penalty and outrage, he said at the time, as well as asking questions about whether he was connected to the power -owned power project of the Electricity Corporation Electricity.
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Bekele described Gerd as “the manifestation of Ethiopia’s determination to develop with our own hands”, in a statement published by EEPC at the time of the construction of the dam. Successive directors brought the project through the Nile Blue deviation, the placement of concrete compacted with rollers and the filling of reservoirs, which began in stages from 2020.
Unlike most world megadams, Gerd was largely created without banking multilateral funding. The Government says 91% of the cost of $ 5 billion was financed nationally through bonds, payroll contributions and public fund collection.
Only $ 1 billion, covered with turbines and electromechanical systems, were provided by the Exim Bank of China. “Gerd is unique not only for its scale, but also to be self -financed by Ethiopians,” said the Minister of Water and Energy Habstamu Itefa in an informative session published by the Ministry earlier this year.
Webuild emphasized the human scale of work, saying that more than 25,000 people, especially Ethiopas, worked in the dam for 14 years: “A new city has arisen around the site, with a hospital, schools, clinics, roads and a bakery”, providing lasting infrastructure for the surrounding region.
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Power, pride and pressure
State planners see raspberry as Linchpin of an electrification thrust intended to reach universal domestic access by 2030 while positioning Ethiopia as a regional exporter.
Ethiopian officials say that the agreements are already in their place to transmit power in Sudan, Djibouti and Kenya. “Gerd offers a shared development perspective if our neighbors choose cooperation,” Abiy said in his inauguration speech. However, this perspective is still disputed.
Images of satellite side of the great Renaissance Dam Ethiopia and the blue Nile. (On February 6, 2019, the photo shows the river before the dam, while the image of February 22, 2022 shows that the deposit was filled behind the dam.) Image courtesy of NASA.
With little precipitation of his own, Egypt depends on the Nile for almost all his freshwater and warned that the filling and unilateral operation of raspberry could threaten his water safety. Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said in a statement issued on September 9, “Egypt will not accept measures that endanger the lives and livelihoods of 100 million citizens.”
Egypt’s concerns come from their position at the bottom of the Nile’s system. The blue Nile, which rises in the highlands of Ethiopia, brings about 60-70% of the total river flow when it reaches Aswan. As the raspberry tank fills and then regulates seasonal downloads, the volume and calendar of the water available for both Sudan and Egypt could be modified.
Sudan has also been concerned about non -coordinated water launches and possible safety risks. While the declaration in early 2015 committed Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan to negotiate operational rules, no binding agreement has yet been reached.
Ethiopian officials counteract that reservoir filling has not caused a significant interruption. “We have managed [to fill] So balance our needs with the flow of our neighbors, “Habtamu said in July, according to the ministry transcripts.
Beyond geopolitics, Gerd is a feat of Dam Engineering. Its large scale is placed in the company of largest hydroelectric projects in the world, with concrete volumes compacted with wheels that rival with three gorges from China.
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According to the ministry, sediment management designs and safety reviews of international experts were incorporated. For the Ethiopia construction sector, the project has trained thousands of workers in RCC techniques, hydro-mechanical installation and high voltage transmission, which are already being applied to the monitoring infrastructure.
With its inauguration, Gerd goes from an aspirational construction to an operational asset capable of remodeling the energy landscape of East Africa. “It’s not just a dam,” Abiy said in the reduction of tapes. “It is the cornerstone of the future of Ethiopia.”
For contractors and engineers, the project offers lessons of scale, self -financing and delivery under extraordinary political and logistical pressures. “With Gerd, Webuild reaffirms its global leadership in the provision of large -scale, complex and sustainable infrastructure,” Salini said in a statement.
The main wall of the great Ethiopian Renaissance prey is around 145 m high and extends 1,780 ma through the blue nile. ; Courtesy of Webuild Group
