Ethiopia: The tallest dam in Africa opens Gibe-III hydroelectric dam on Omo River

Ethiopia: The tallest dam in Africa opens Gibe-III hydroelectric dam on Omo River

EIRNS

ADDIS ABABA On December 17 Ethiopia inaugurated Gibe III, the biggest hydroelectric dam in the country with an installed capacity of 1,870 Megawatts, virtually doubling the country’s electricity capacity.

Located on the Omo River, it is the tallest of its kind in the world, and the the latest in a series of 3 dams (Gibe I, Gibe II and Gibe III being built by the country).

The Gibe III dam cost $1.7 billion. 60 percent of the cost was obtained through a loan from the Chinese government. 40 percent of the cost comes from the Ethiopian government.

Gibe III will generate up to 6,500 GWh of electricity a year.

Gibe III is the first dam in Ethiopia to be built using roller-compacted concrete (RCC). Standing at 250 meters (820.21 ft) —with its crest length of 630 meters (2,066.93 ft).

Gibe I, with an installed capacity of 184 megawatts, was finished in 2004; Gibe II has an installed capacity of 420 MW and was inaugurated in 2010. The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile River, which will become the 11th-largest in the world. It will have the capacity to produce more than 6,000 megawatts of electricity and it will become Africa’s largest hydroelectric plant.

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Video: Ethiopia launches hydro-electric plant Gibe 3

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Video: Drone footage of GERD and Gibe-III Dam in Ethiopia

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