Ethiopian authorities announced this week that its controversial Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) has seen the fourth round of water filling now complete. GERD is the largest hydropower dam in Africa and will help Ethiopia reach its goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2025.
This national project highly supported by Ethiopians at home and around the world, will have an installed production capacity of 5,150 MW when at full capacity, able to produce an average of 15,700 GWh annually.
A post on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam Facebook page stated: “All Ethiopians have supported the great renaissance dam for the past 12 years … We have worked together from children to adults and moved the construction to the final stage.
“This year the construction of the dam has continued stronger than ever before, it has been able to fill four rounds of water and the Abay River has been successfully poured on top of the great Renaissance dam. Congratulations! We are calling for the completion of the dam with more strength than ever!!”
The filling of the contentious dam comes shortly after talks between Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia had resumed negotiations. Egypt immediately condemned the actions with its Foreign Affairs Ministry in a statement saying that the Declaration of Principles signed between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan in 2015 “stipulates the need for the three countries to reach agreement on the rules for filling and operating the GERD before beginning the filling process.” Both Egypt and Sudan fear that GERD will negatively impact the amount of water they receive from the Nile.