Ethiopian PM says dam will electrify entire region but Egypt fears it could restrict water supply during droughts
Ethiopia has officially inaugurated Africa’s largest hydroelectric dam, a project that will provide energy to millions of Ethiopians while deepening a rift with downstream Egypt that has unsettled the region.
Ethiopia, the continent’s second most populous nation with more than 120 million people, sees the $5bn (£3.7bn) Grand Ethiopian Renaissance dam (Gerd) on a tributary of the Nile River as central to its economic ambitions. The dam’s power has gradually increased since the first turbine was turned on in 2022, reaching its maximum capacity of 5,150MW on Tuesday. That puts it among the 20 biggest hydroelectric dams in the world – about one-quarter of the capacity of China’s Three Gorges dam.
At a ceremony on Tuesday at the site in Guba, an Ethiopian fighter jet flew low over the mist rising from the dam’s white waters, which fall 170 metres (558ft).
Beneath a canopy in the shape of Ethiopia and in the colours of its flag, the prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, later addressed a crowd of dozens of dignitaries including the presidents of Somalia, Djibouti and Kenya.
