Overview

• Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed opened the GERD on the Blue Nile, calling it a national achievement, with regional leaders including Kenya’s William Ruto and Somalia’s Hassan Sheikh Mohamud in attendance.
• The hydropower complex is designed for about 6,000 megawatts from 13 turbines, with a reservoir of roughly 74 billion cubic meters, and experts say output could roughly double Ethiopia’s electricity supply.
• Ethiopia frames the project as key to electrifying a country where about 45 percent of people lack power and to becoming a regional energy exporter.
• Egypt and Sudan maintain the dam threatens downstream water security, say operations lack a binding agreement on filling and releases, and Egypt has filed a complaint at the U.N. alleging violations of international law.
• Ethiopia financed most of the roughly $4–5 billion build domestically with additional Chinese investment in equipment, while analysts warn the reservoir will alter river ecosystems and drought years could intensify downstream shortages.