ETHIOPIA WILL TODAY INAUGURATE AFRICA’S LARGEST HYDROELECTRIC DAM PROJECT, REVOLUTIONIZING THE COUNTRY’S ENERGY SECTOR.
TOWERING 145 METRES HIGH AND STRETCHING NEARLY TWO KILOMETRES ACROSS THE BLUE NILE NEAR THE SUDANESE BORDER, THE 4 BILLION DOLLARS MEGASTRUCTURE IS DESIGNED TO HOLD 74 BILLION CUBIC METRES OF WATER AND GENERATE 5,000 MEGAWATTS OF ELECTRICITY, MORE THAN DOUBLE ETHIOPIA’S CURRENT CAPACITY.
DATA FROM THE WORLD BANK REVEALED THAT ABOUT 45 PERCENT OF ETHIOPIA’S 130 MILLION PEOPLE LACK ELECTRICITY, AND FREQUENT BLACKOUTS IN ADDIS ABABA HAVE FORCED BUSINESSES AND HOUSEHOLDS TO RELY ON GENERATORS.
ACCORDING TO ANALYSTS, THE GRAND RENAISSANCE DAM GERD, UNDER CONSTRUCTION SINCE 2011, COULD TRANSFORM ETHIOPIA’S ECONOMY, BOOSTING INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION, ENABLING A SHIFT TOWARD ELECTRIC VEHICLES, AND SUPPLYING POWER-HUNGRY NEIGHBOURS THROUGH REGIONAL INTERCONNECTORS THAT STRETCH AS FAR AS TANZANIA.
