Ethiopia activates two turbines at the Grand Renaissance Dam, doubling its power generation capacity

Aug. 28 (EUROPA PRESS) –

Ethiopian authorities have announced the activation of two new turbines at the Grand Renaissance Dam, located on the Blue Nile and which has caused tensions for years with Sudan and Egypt, thus doubling the power generation capacity of the facilities.

The company in charge of the dam’s operations has specified in a message on its account on the social network X that “the construction of the concrete dam has been completed” and that these two turbines, with a capacity to generate 400 megawatts each, “have begun operations.”

“This is in addition to the two turbines already in operation, which generated 375 megawatts each, bringing the total to 1,550 megawatts,” he said, adding that 2,800 cubic metres of water per second had been discharged downstream.

“Overall progress on the Grand Renaissance Dam has moved from the construction phase to the operational phase,” he stressed. Ethiopian authorities plan to activate a total of thirteen turbines at the facility, which is the largest hydroelectric dam on the African continent.

The governments of the three countries concerned reached an agreement in principle on the main points of contention around infrastructure in January 2020, but Addis Ababa walked away from the talks before signing it.

There have since been several rounds of talks to finalise a pact, amid accusations from Egypt that Ethiopia is unwilling to do so and threats from Cairo over what it sees as an existential threat due to its reliance on the Nile’s waters.