While officials in Ethiopia are talking about a great success in the process of the second filling of the Renaissance Dam, Egyptian experts believe that Ethiopia has failed to achieve the filling of the dam as it previously targeted.
A debate took place on Al-Jazeera directly between experts on the subject, and Dr. Abbas Sharaki, professor of geology and water resources at Cairo University, said that the master plan for the Renaissance Dam in 2011 aimed to open the first phase of it after 48 months by operating the first two turbines in it, which means 2014, but it was not completed. that.
He added, "The failure to complete this stage until 2020, and there was a plan to store 18.5 billion cubic meters at that time, but the engineering construction did not take place and the Ethiopian government was forced, due to the election conditions, to store what could be stored at that time, which is 5 billion cubic meters. Ethiopia did nothing." In agriculture, electricity, or drinking water.”
Did Ethiopia succeed or fail in the process of the second filling of the Renaissance Dam?
pic.twitter.com/OxgaPXUQEs
- Al Jazeera Mubasher (@ajmubasher) July 19, 2021
He continued, "Then Ethiopia wanted to complete this storage and reach 18.5 billion cubic meters at a level of 595 meters above sea level this year, but we were surprised by the Ethiopian Minister of Irrigation mentioning - in one of the meetings last month - a level of 573 meters, which means adding 3 billion cubic meters." This year is in addition to the 5 billion from the previous year.”
Regarding the Ethiopian officials’ view of what has happened in the Renaissance Dam so far, he said, “The success lies in storing the targeted amount of water and operating the electricity turbines, and this has not happened until now.
The project was supposed to be completed completely in 2017, but even the first phase of it is facing a stumble, which was what Ethiopian Prime Minister Abi Ahmed talked about and explained by the instability of the home front and the existence of funding problems.
How much water was stored during the second filling of the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam?
pic.twitter.com/jFGzvR5CHU
- Al Jazeera Mubasher (@ajmubasher) July 19, 2021
For his part, Professor of Dam Engineering, Dr. Mohamed Hafez, confirmed that what was reserved during the second filling is no more than 3.5 billion cubic meters of water, in addition to what was previously stored, which means about 8 or 8.25 billion cubic meters, and this contradicts the figure stated by the Ethiopian Minister of Irrigation. It is the storage of 13.5 billion cubic meters in the second filling, which Hafez described as a “totally illogical” number, according to pictures of the stored water that the minister published on his account.
Yassin Ahmed, director of the Ethiopian Institute for Popular Diplomacy, replied that Dr. Hafez judges the issue from a distance and relies on guesswork, while Ethiopia has the real information and announces to the world that the second filling has been completed, stressing that he understands that the Egyptian and Sudanese sides did not accept the matter because they were hoping for the second filling to happen after reaching for an agreement.
Can Ethiopia generate electricity after the second filling of the Renaissance Dam?
pic.twitter.com/IyP5hohZdz
- Al Jazeera Mubasher (@ajmubasher) July 19, 2021
He added, "Doubting the amount of stored water does not lead to anything, and the Renaissance Dam has become a reality and no force on earth can obstruct it, and it is a development and renaissance for all Nile Basin countries."
Regarding the inability of the dam's turbines to generate electricity so far, Dr. Mohamed Hafez said that there are technical problems in the installation of low turbines in particular, and Chinese engineers are still working on solving them, and they will not be operational for at least a month from now, or perhaps two months.
He added, "Even if electricity was generated at the time, there is no electricity network near the dam to transfer it to any of the neighboring countries, and therefore Ethiopia will not benefit from the water it has stored in generating electricity this year at least."