Ethiopia wants to start power generation from Renaissance Dam

aerial view of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile in Guba, northwest Ethiopia.

July 20, 2020 © Adwa pictures - AFP

Text by: RFI Follow

1 min

The first watts could come out this Sunday, February 20 from the very controversial Renaissance dam.

The authorities of Addis Ababa want to launch the production of electricity on this giant building, built on the Nile.

A hydroelectric dam, a source of regional tension for more than ten years. 

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Since the launch of this project in 2011, Egypt and Sudan have stood together against Ethiopia.

For these two countries, located downstream of the river, the Nile is a vital source of supply, providing for example 97% of Egypt's water needs. 

If Ethiopia becomes master of the flow of the river, Egypt and Sudan fear running out of water and losing cultivable land.

To limit their dependence, the two states want a control agreement over the use of the dam, which Ethiopia considers an attack on its sovereignty.

The discussions initiated under the aegis of the African Union did not lead to a compromise.

Pending an agreement, Khartoum and Cairo have asked Addis Ababa to pause

. 

But last July, Ethiopia announced the end of a new stage of the process allowing two of the thirteen turbines to be commissioned, without giving a commissioning date until today. 

In this country at war, with an economy undermined by rising fuel prices, the Renaissance dam is presented as a national cause, an object of patriotic mobilization.

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• Ethiopia

• Energies