Daily Monitor
Monday April 19 2021
Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on April 17. The dam plays a vital role in expanding industries in the region and reduces poverty. PHOTO/COURTESY
Summary
In most discussions, the benefits of GERD for Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt, and other Nile basin countries have not gotten sufficient attention and coverage. In this article, Belachew C Tesfa highlights the benefits of GERD for all Nile Basin countries and specifically for Egypt and Sudan.
In 2011, Ethiopia began building the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam Project (GERD) on the Blue Nile River, 60 kilometres from the Sudan border.
The reservoir has a storage capacity of 74 billion cubic metres (BCM). The primary objective of GERD is to generate electric power of 5150MW, with an annual average energy production of 15130GWH/year. This will increase power supply in the country as well as for export in the East Africa region. Its power generation capacity made GERD the biggest hydro-dam in Af