Ethiopia starts partial generation of power from disputed dam

dpa Nairobi/Cairo Ethiopia has started generating 375MW of electricity from the controversial mega-dam that is being built along the Blue Nile dam. The mil...

dpaNairobi/CairoEthiopia has started generating 375MW of electricity from the controversial mega-dam that is being built along the Blue Nile dam.The milestone was reached on Sunday morning when one of the 13 turbines of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) started power generation in an event officiated by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.“We just started generating power, but that doesn’t mean the project is completed,” said Kifle Horo, the project manager of the dam.Abiy, accompanied by high-ranking officials, toured the power generation station and pressed a series of buttons on an electronic screen, a move officials said initiated production.The prime minister sought to assure neighbouring nations his country did not wish to harm their interests.“It will take from two and half to three years to complete it.” The dam, which will have a total power generating capacity of 6,500MW, has been a source of controversy and tensions between Ethiopia and the other riverine states Sudan and Egypt. It called Ethiopia’s power generation a “unilateral” move.The Egyptian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Ethiopia is “violating its obligations” under a 2015 declaration of principles signed with Egypt and Sudan.Ethiopia has already conducted two fillings of the mega-dam but the speed at which it will be filled and the amount of water that will be released during drought seasons remains unclear.Egypt fears a quick filling of the dam will reduce its share of the Nile River and seeks a binding legal agreement in case of a dispute, whereas Ethiopia contends the $4.2-billion dam is essential for its development and will enable it to distribute electricity to its vast population of more than 110 million.Egypt, the most populous Arab country with more than 100 million people, relies almost exclusively on the Nile for farming, industry and domestic water use.  Ethiopia says Egypt’s worries about GERD are baseless.Several rounds of talks to resolve the stalemate have borne no fruit yet.The dam, whose construction started in 2011, will be Africa’s largest hydroelectric dam upon completion. Embezzlement and design flaws have delayed the project by several years.The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam is set to be the largest hydroelectric scheme in Africa but has been at the centre of a regional dispute ever since Ethiopia broke ground there in 2011.Ethiopia’s downstream neighbours Egypt and Sudan view the dam as a threat because of their dependence on Nile waters, while Addis Ababa deems it essential for its electrification and development.The $4.2bn project is ultimately expected to produce more than 5,000 megawatts of electricity, more than doubling Ethiopia’s electricity output.State media reported the 145-metre (475-foot) high dam – which lies on Blue Nile River in the Benishangul-Gumuz region of western Ethiopia, not far from the border with Sudan – had started generating 375 megawatts of electricity from one of its turbines on Sunday.Egypt, which depends on the Nile for about 97 percent of its irrigation and drinking water, sees the dam as an existential threat.Sudan hopes the project will regulate annual flooding but fears its own dams could be harmed without agreement on the GERD’s operation.Both countries have been pushing Ethiopia for a binding deal over the filling and operation of the massive dam, but talks under the auspices of the African Union (AU) have failed to reach a breakthrough.William Davison, senior analyst at the International Crisis Group, said GERD is seen domestically “as a symbol of Ethiopia resisting external pressure”.“The government has propagated the idea that foreign actors are trying to undermine Ethiopia’s sovereignty, so I think this will be cast as showing they are still making progress despite a hostile environment,” Davison said.Addisu Lashitew of the Brookings Institution in Washington added GERD’s commissioning was a “rare positive development that can unite a deeply fractured country” after 15 months of brutal conflict with Tigrayan rebels.“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,” he said.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 about 110 million lacking a connection to the grid.The dam was initiated under former Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, the leader who ruled Ethiopia for more than two decades until his death in 2012.