By Emmanuel Nduka Obisue
Ethiopia on Tuesday inaugurated the continent’s biggest hydroelectric project, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). The facility is a $4-billion megastructure.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed hailed it as a “great achievement for all black people,” despite years of fierce opposition from downstream neighbour Egypt.
Built on the Blue Nile near the Sudanese border, the 170-metre-high dam can hold 74 billion cubic metres of water and generate 5,150 megawatts of electricity. This is more than double Ethiopia’s current capacity. Its Italian builder, Webuild, says GERD ranks as Africa’s largest by power capacity, though outside the global top ten.
“GERD will be remembered as a great achievement not only for Ethiopia, but for all black people,” Abiy declared at the opening ceremony, attended by regional leaders including Kenya’s President William Ruto and Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.
He added: “I invite all black people to visit the dam. It demonstrates that we, as black people, can achieve anything we plan.”
But the project remains a flashpoint. Egypt, which relies on the Nile for 97 percent of its water, has repeatedly branded the dam an “existential threat.” President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has vowed to defend Egypt’s water security with all measures permitted under international law.
For Ethiopia, the GERD under construction since 2011, is more than an energy project. Analysts say it could transform the country’s economy, light up homes for millions who still live without electricity, power industrial growth, and turn Addis Ababa into a regional energy exporter.
“It is no longer a dream but a fact,” said Webuild CEO Pietro Salini, recalling the challenges of financing, training workers, and even surviving Ethiopia’s brutal 2020–2022 civil war. “This country that was dark in the evening when I first arrived here… is now selling energy to neighbouring countries,” Salini added.
Efforts by the African Union, the United States, Russia, and others to mediate a binding agreement between Ethiopia, Egypt, and Sudan have so far failed. But Abiy insists the GERD is a shared milestone: “For downstream countries, Ethiopia has accomplished GERD as a shining example for black people. It will not affect your development at all.”
While Africa’s hydropower race is led by Ethiopia’s latest Dam, Tanzania follows with the Julius Nyerere Dam at 2,115 MW, while Egypt’s iconic Aswan High Dam and Mozambique’s Cahora Bassa both generate just over 2,000 MW. On the Zambezi, the Kariba Dam shared by Zambia and Zimbabwe adds about 2,000 MW.
Other heavyweights include Ethiopia’s Gilgel Gibe III (1,870 MW), Ghana’s Akosombo (1,020 MW), and Nigeria’s trio of Kainji, Shiroro and Jebba, which together deliver nearly 2,000 MW. Angola’s Lauca and Cambambe dams also push its output above 2,000 MW, while Mozambique eyes another giant in the Mphanda Nkuwa project, expected to add 1,500 MW.
