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107-530: The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam ( GERD or TaIHiGe ; Amharic : ታላቁ የኢትዮጵያ ሕዳሴ ግድብ , romanized :  Tālāqu ye-Ītyōppyā Hidāsē Gidib , Tigrinya : ግድብ ሕዳሰ ኢትዮጵያ , Oromo : Hidha Haaromsaa Guddicha Itoophiyaa ), formerly known as the Millennium Dam and sometimes referred to as the Hidase Dam ( Amharic : ሕዳሴ ግድብ , romanized :  Hidāsē Gidib , Oromo : Hidha Hidāsē ),

214-523: A holy language by the Rastafari religion and is widely used among its followers worldwide. Early Afro-Asiatic populations speaking proto- Semitic , proto- Cushitic and proto- Omotic languages would have diverged by the fourth or fifth millennium BC. Shortly afterwards, the proto-Cushitic and proto-Omotic groups would have settled in the Ethiopian highlands, with the proto-Semitic speakers crossing

321-524: A pidgin as early as the 4th century AD to enable communication between Aksumite soldiers speaking Semitic, Cushitic, and Omotic languages, but this hypothesis has not garnered widespread acceptance. The preservation in Old Amharic of VSO word order and gutturals typical of Semitic languages, Cushitic influences shared with other Ethio-Semitic languages (especially those of the Southern branch), and

428-472: A 500 kV HVDC line. The volume of the reservoir will be two to three times that of Lake Tana . Up to 7,000 tonnes of fish are expected to be harvested annually. The reservoir may become a tourist destination . Amharic language Amharic ( / æ m ˈ h ær ɪ k / am- HARR -ik or / ɑː m ˈ h ɑːr ɪ k / ahm- HAR -ik ; native name : አማርኛ , romanized :  Amarəñña , IPA: [amarɨɲːa] )

535-536: A Transmission Interconnection project and the Regional Rusumo Falls Hydro-electric and Multi-purpose Project. This has involved carrying out preliminary feasibility studies and assessments. In December 2005 the six NELSAP Ministers responsible for Electricity Affairs adopted an Indicative Power Master Plan for the region. The plan includes a set of “best evaluated” power generation options and transmission interconnection projects for

642-526: A capacity of 540 megawatts, facilitated by two turbines, with plans to eventually produce 5,150 megawatts. Furthermore, the dam held 42 billion m³ of water, a figure projected to rise to 74 billion m³ upon completion. Later that year, on 17 July, the fifth filling began with the goal of completion by September. The reservoir was set to hold 64 billion m³ of water, with its levels reaching approximately 640 metres (2,100 ft). In late October 2024, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced in parliament that

749-581: A coordinated set of investments to ensure the sustainable development and management of shared Eastern Nile waters, including the Abbay ( Blue Nile ), Tekeze (Setit)- Atbara , Baro - Akobo - Sobat , portions of the White Nile and the Main Nile. The first set of investments under the program is likely to include: The Nile Equatorial Lakes Subsidiary Action Program (NELSAP) “is an investment program under

856-511: A country which depends on the Nile for about 90% of its water, has demanded that Ethiopia cease construction on the dam as a precondition to negotiations, has sought regional support for its position, and some political leaders have discussed methods to sabotage it. Egypt has planned a diplomatic initiative to undermine support for the dam in the region as well as in other countries supporting the project such as China and Italy. However, other nations in

963-622: A day after the project was made public, a US$ 4.8 billion contract was awarded without competitive bidding to Italian company Salini Impregilo , and the dam's foundation stone was laid on 2 April 2011 by the Prime Minister Meles Zenawi . A rock-crushing plant was constructed, along with a small air strip for fast transportation. The expectation was for the first two power-generation turbines to become operational after 44 months of construction, or early 2015. Egypt, located over 2,500 kilometres (1,600 mi) downstream of

1070-571: A few months. The installed power of 6.450 MW in combination with the size of the reservoir will help to manage the side effects of the next severe drought, when other hydropower plants have to stop their operations. In recent years due to the threat of a possible airstrike on the dam, the Ethiopian government has sought and bought several air defence systems from Russia, including the Pantsir-S1 air defence system, and from Israel, including

1177-607: A flood event once every 1000 years. Flanking either side of the auxiliary ungated spillway at the centre of the dam are two power houses , that are equipped with 2 x 375 MW Francis turbine -generators and 11 x 400 MW turbines. The total installed capacity with all turbine-generators will be 5,150 MW. The average annual flow of the Blue Nile being available for power generation is expected to be 1,547 m/s (54,600 cu ft/s), which gives rise to an annual expectation for power generation of 16,153 GWh, corresponding to

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1284-634: A length of 4,800 m (15,700 ft) and a volume of 15 million m³. In 2013, an Independent Panel of Experts (IPoE) assessed the dam and its technological parameters. At that time, the reservoir sizes were changed already. The size of the reservoir at full supply level went up to 1,874 km (724 sq mi), an increase of 194 km (75 sq mi). The storage volume at full supply level had increased to 74 km (60,000,000 acre⋅ft), an increase of 7 km (1.7 cu mi). These numbers did not change after 2013. The storage volume of 74 km (60,000,000 acre⋅ft) represents nearly

1391-499: A planned power generation of 161,530 GWh per year. That was achieved by upgrading 14 of the 16 generating units from 375 MW to 400 MW without changing the nominal capacity. According to a senior Ethiopian official, on 17 October 2019, the power generation capacity of the GERD is now 5,150 MW, with 13 turbines (2x 375 MW and 11x 400 MW) down from 16 turbines. Not only the electrical power parameters changed over time, but also

1498-406: A plant load factor (or capacity factor ) of 28.6%. The Francis turbines inside the power houses are installed vertically, rising 7 m (23 ft) above the ground level. For the operation between the minimum operating level and the full supply level, the water head available to the turbines is between 83–133 m (272–436 ft). A switching station is located close to the main dam, where

1605-474: A professor of mechanical engineering at San Diego State University in California, the dam and its hydropower plant are massively oversized: "GERD’s available power output, based on the average of river flow throughout the year and the dam height, is about 2,000 megawatts, not 6,000. There is little doubt that the system has been designed for a peak flow rate that only happens during the two to three months of

1712-504: A series of studies aimed at developing common analytical tools, as well as a tentative plan for coordinated investments called the Joint Multipurpose Program. Specific common analytical tools will be developed for the power sector, watershed management and irrigation/drainage, integrated by an overall planning model. The Joint Multipurpose Program (JMP) is a long-term program with a 25-30 year horizon that includes

1819-404: A smaller dam would have been more cost-effective. Soon after, in 2012, the hydropower plant was upgraded to receive 16 generating units with 375 MW nameplate capacity each, increasing the total installed capacity to 6,000 MW, with the expected power generation going up only slightly to 15,692 GWh per annum. Consequently, the capacity factor shrank to 29.9%. According to Asfaw Beyene,

1926-531: A stabilising backbone of the Ethiopian national grid. There will be exports, but only if there is a total surplus of energy generated in Ethiopia. This is mainly expected to happen during rainy seasons, when there is plenty of water for hydropower generation. The eventual surplus electricity of GERD which does not fit the demand inside Ethiopia, is then to be sold and exported to neighbouring countries including Sudan and possibly Egypt, but also Djibouti . Exporting

2033-500: A sustainable way.” It is financed through grants and aims to foster trust to build an enabling environment for investment. In 2010 it included the following eight projects mainly focused on regional training: The Eastern Nile Subsidiary Action Program (ENSAP) "seeks to develop the water resources of the Eastern Nile Basin in a sustainable and equitable way to ensure prosperity, security and peace for all its peoples". It

2140-403: A total installed capacity of 5,250 MW with an expected power generation of 15,128 GWh per year. Its planned generation capacity was later increased to 6,000 MW, through 16 generating units with 375 MW nominal capacity each. The expected power generation was estimated at 15,692 GWh per year. In 2017, the design was again changed to add another 450 MW for a total of 6,450 MW, with

2247-649: A treaty signed during the colonial era between Egypt and Britain in 1929, but later on expressed support for Egypt after series of agreements negotiations and trade relations the Nile Basin countries have become closer to Egypt. The agreement, once effective, will transform the NBI into a permanent Nile River Basin Commission. The agreement was ratified by Ethiopia, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi, and South Sudan between 2013 and 2024. Despite various objections,

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2354-419: A water level of 560 m (1,840 ft), 30 m (98 ft) below the minimum operating level of the other 11 turbine-generators. At that level, the reservoir had been filled with roughly 5.5 km (1.3 cu mi) of water, corresponding to roughly 11% of the annual inflow of 48.8 km (11.7 cu mi). During the rainy season, this can happen within days to weeks. The first stage filling of

2461-572: Is a gravity dam on the Blue Nile River in Ethiopia. The dam is in the Benishangul-Gumuz Region of Ethiopia, about 14 km (9 mi) east of the border with Sudan . Constructed between 2011 and 2023, the dam's primary purpose is electricity production to relieve Ethiopia's acute energy shortage and to export electricity to neighbouring countries. With a planned installed capacity of 5.15 gigawatts when completed,

2568-751: Is a South Ethio-Semitic language, along with Gurage , Argobba , Harari , and others. Due to the social stratification of the time, the Cushitic Agaw adopted the South Ethio-Semitic language and eventually absorbed the Semitic population. Amharic thus developed with a Cushitic substratum and a Semitic superstratum . The northernmost South Ethio-Semitic speakers, or the proto-Amhara, remained in constant contact with their North Ethio-Semitic neighbors, evidenced by linguistic analysis and oral traditions. A 7th century southward shift of

2675-817: Is an Ethiopian Semitic language , which is a subgrouping within the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic languages . It is spoken as a first language by the Amharas , and also serves as a lingua franca for all other populations residing in major cities and towns in Ethiopia . The language serves as the official working language of the Ethiopian federal government, and is also the official or working language of several of Ethiopia's federal regions . As of 2020, it has over 33,700,000 mother-tongue speakers and more than 25,100,000 second language speakers in 2019, making

2782-579: Is an abugida , and the graphemes of the Amharic writing system are called fidäl . It is derived from a modification of the Ge'ez script . Each character represents a consonant+vowel sequence, but the basic shape of each character is determined by the consonant, which is modified for the vowel. Some consonant phonemes are written by more than one series of characters: / ʔ / , / s / , / tsʼ / , and / h / (the last one has four distinct letter forms). This

2889-1175: Is based in Kigali, Rwanda. In addition, various projects under the Share Vision Program have regional project management units located in Cairo (applied training), Addis Ababa (water resources planning), Dar es-Salaam (power trade) and Nairobi (agriculture). The NBI consists of three main programs: The Shared Vision Program, the Eastern Nile Subsidiary Action Program and the Nile Equatorial Lakes Subsidiary Action Program. The Shared Vision Program (SVP), “a Basin-wide program that focuses on building institutions, sharing data and information, providing training and creating avenues for dialogue and region-wide networks needed for joint problem-solving, collaborative development, and developing multi-sector and multi-country programs of investment to develop water resources in

2996-663: Is because these fidäl originally represented distinct sounds, but phonological changes merged them. The citation form for each series is the consonant+ ä form, i.e. the first column of the fidäl . The Amharic script is included in Unicode , and glyphs are included in fonts available with major operating systems. As in most other Ethiopian Semitic languages , gemination is contrastive in Amharic. That is, consonant length can distinguish words from one another; for example, alä 'he said', allä 'there is'; yǝmätall 'he hits', yǝmmättall 'he will be hit'. Gemination

3103-501: Is called an abugida ( አቡጊዳ ). The graphemes are called fidäl ( ፊደል ), which means "script", "alphabet", "letter", or "character". There is no universally agreed-upon Romanization of Amharic into Latin script . The Amharic examples in the sections below use one system that is common among linguists specializing in Ethiopian Semitic languages. Amharic has been the official working language of Ethiopia, language of

3210-570: Is estimated that approximately 3,000 people would need to be resettled around the hydropower plant facility. The NELSAP Transmission Interconnection feasibility studies include detailed design for four key transmission lines between Burundi, DRC, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda, supported directly by the African Development Bank . The total cost of the regional transmission lines are about US$ 160 Million. The Nile Basin Initiative

3317-560: Is expected to be much higher, 0.21 km (170,000 acre⋅ft) per annum. The GERD reservoir will foreseeably remove any siltation threat from the Roseires reservoir. The base of the GERD dam is at around 500 m (1,600 ft) above sea level. Water discharge from the dam will be released back into the Blue Nile which flows for only about 30 km (19 mi), before joining the Roseires reservoir, which – at maximum level – will be at 490 m (1,610 ft) above sea level. There

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3424-549: Is in Africa.' ልጁ Lǝǧ-u the boy ተኝቷል täññǝtʷall. asleep is ልጁ ተኝቷል Lǝǧ-u täññǝtʷall. {the boy} {asleep is} 'The boy is asleep.' ( -u is a definite article. Lǝǧ is 'boy'. Lǝǧu is 'the boy') አየሩ Ayyäru the weather ደስ däss pleasant Nile Basin Initiative In May 2010, five upstream states signed a Cooperative Framework Agreement (CFA) to seek more water from

3531-624: Is managed by the Eastern Nile Technical Regional Office (ENTRO) based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. It is grouped into fast-track investments and more complex, longer-term multi-purpose track investments. This track included four projects in early 2008: The Regional Watershed Management Project aims to establish sustainable management of watersheds on the Tekeze , Atbara , Mareb , Abbay / Blue Nile and

3638-469: Is mostly heard as the affricate sound [ t͡sʼ ]. The rhotic consonant is realized as a trill when geminated and a tap otherwise. The closed central unrounded vowel ⟨ə⟩ /ɨ/ and mid-central vowel ⟨ä⟩ /ə/ are generally fronted to [ ɪ ] and [ ɛ ], respectively, following palatal consonants , and generally retracted and rounded to [ ʊ ] and [ ɔ ], respectively, following labialized velar consonants . The Amharic script

3745-416: Is not indicated in Amharic orthography, but Amharic readers typically do not find this to be a problem. This property of the writing system is analogous to the vowels of Arabic and Hebrew or the tones of many Bantu languages , which are not normally indicated in writing. Ethiopian novelist Haddis Alemayehu , who was an advocate of Amharic orthography reform , indicated gemination in his novel Love to

3852-457: Is only a 10 m (33 ft) river elevation difference between both projects. The two reservoirs and accompanying hydropower projects could – if coordinated properly across the border between Ethiopia and Sudan – become a cascaded system for more efficient hydropower generation and enhanced irrigation (in Sudan in particular). Water from the 140 m (460 ft) column of the water storage of

3959-547: Is only expected to be used when the reservoir is both full and the flow exceeds 14,700 m/s (520,000 cu ft/s), a flow value projected to be exceeded once every ten years. A third spillway, an emergency spillway, is located to the right of the curved saddle dam, with a base level at 642 m (2,106 ft). This emergency spillway has an open distance about 1,200 m (3,900 ft) along its rim. This third spillway will discharge water if river flow exceeds 18,000 m/s (640,000 cu ft/s), corresponding to

4066-667: Is relying heavily on hydropower, but the country is often affected by droughts (see e.g. 2011 East Africa drought ). The water reservoirs used for power generation in Ethiopia have a limited size. For example, the Gilgel Gibe I reservoir , that feeds both the Gilgel Gibe I powerplant and the Gilgel Gibe II Power Station , has a capacity of 0.7 km. In times of drought, there is no water left to generate electrical power. This heavily affected Ethiopia in

4173-687: Is supported by contributions from the NBI countries themselves and through the support of international financial institutions – such as the World Bank , the Global Environmental Facility and the African Development Bank – and other donors. In 2003 a World Bank-managed, multi-donor trust fund created to harmonize donor contributions. Donors that contributed through the Nile Basin Trust Fund until early 2008 include Canada, Denmark, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and

4280-522: Is the Italian company Webuild (formerly Salini Impregilo), which also served as primary contractor for the Gilgel Gibe II , Gilgel Gibe III and Tana Beles dams. Simegnew Bekele was the project manager of GERD from the start of construction in 2011 up to his death on 26 July 2018. In October that year, he was replaced by Kifle Horo. The dam required 10 million m³ of concrete, for which

4387-425: Is therefore 140 m (460 ft) above the ground level of the main dam. Hydropower generation occurs between reservoir levels of 590 m (1,940 ft), the so-called minimum operating level , and 640 m (2,100 ft), the full supply level . The live storage volume , usable for power generation between both levels is therefore 59.2 km (48,000,000 acre⋅ft). The first 90 m (300 ft) of

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4494-733: The Baro / Akobo / Sobat rivers in Ethiopia and Sudan. The initial project sites identified include Lake Nasser / Nubia in Egypt; Jamma , Reb , and Gumara sub-basins, as well as watershed management in Tana - Beles as part of the Tana-Beles Integrated Water Resources Development Project in Ethiopia; and the lower Atbara, Ingessena Mountains and areas around Dinder National Park in Sudan. The Ethiopia Power Export Project (formerly called

4601-674: The Blue Nile river takes in Ethiopia ("Abay") is derived from the Ge'ez word for 'great' to imply its being 'the river of rivers'. The word Abay still exists in Ethiopian major languages to refer to anything or anyone considered to be superior. The eventual site for the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam was identified by the United States Bureau of Reclamation in the course of the Blue Nile survey, which

4708-643: The Nile Basin Initiative have expressed support for the dam, including Sudan, the only other nation downstream of the Blue Nile, although Sudan's position towards the dam has varied over time. In 2014, Sudan accused Egypt of inflaming the situation. Ethiopia denies that the dam will have a negative impact on downstream water flows and contends that the dam will, in fact, increase water flows to Egypt by reducing evaporation on Lake Nasser . Ethiopia has accused Egypt of being unreasonable; In October 2019, Egypt stated that talks with Sudan and Ethiopia over

4815-528: The Prime Minister of Ethiopia Of the total cost, 1 billion US dollars for turbines and electrical equipment was funded by the Exim Bank of China . The design changed several times between 2011 and 2019. This affected both the electrical and storage parameters. Originally, in 2011, the hydropower plant was to receive 15 generating units with 350 MW nameplate capacity each, resulting in

4922-491: The SPYDER-MR medium-range air defence system which was installed at the dam. Egypt sought to block the sale between Israel and Ethiopia but Israel ignored the request. A major benefit of the dam will be hydropower production. All the energy generated by GERD will be going into the national grid of Ethiopia to fully support the development of the whole country, both in rural and urban areas. The role of GERD will be to act as

5029-478: The Sinai Peninsula into Asia . A later return movement of peoples from South Arabia would have introduced the Semitic languages to Ethiopia. Based on archaeological evidence, the presence of Semitic speakers in the territory date to some time before 500 BC. Linguistic analysis suggests the presence of Semitic languages in Ethiopia as early as 2000 BC. Levine indicates that by the end of that millennium,

5136-504: The total number of speakers over 58,800,000. Amharic is the largest, most widely spoken language in Ethiopia, and the second most spoken mother-tongue in Ethiopia (after Oromo ). Amharic is also the second most widely spoken Semitic language in the world (after Arabic ). Amharic is written left-to-right using a system that grew out of the Geʽez script . The segmental writing system in which consonant-vowel sequences are written as units

5243-524: The Blue Nile River has persistently been attributed to Egypt's campaign to keep control of Nile water sharing. Ethiopia has been forced to finance the GERD with crowdsourcing through internal fundraising in the form of selling bonds and persuading employees to contribute a portion of their incomes. Contributions are made in the newly official website confirmed by the verified account of the Office of

5350-437: The Blue Nile before the river enters Sudanese territory. The main gated spillway is located to the left of the main dam and is controlled by six floodgates with a design discharge of 14,700 m/s (520,000 cu ft/s) in total. The spillway is 84 m (276 ft) wide at the outflow gates. The base level of the spillway sill is at 624.9 m (2,050 ft), well below the full supply level. An ungated spillway,

5457-641: The CFA as an attempt to diminish their shares of Nile water. Despite these objections, the CFA officially became legally binding over the NBI states on 13 October 2024. The NBI institutional framework consists of three key institutions: Two subsidiary programs are managed by the Eastern Nile Regional Technical Office (ENTRO), which is based in Addis Ababa, and the NELSAP Coordinating Unit (NELSAP-CU), which

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5564-623: The Ethiopia-Sudan Internconnection Project) will connect the power grids of Ethiopia and Sudan to facilitate cross-border energy trade and optimize existing and planned generation capacity. It aims to overcome the severe electricity shortage in both countries. The World Bank is providing a US$ 41 million credit for investments in Ethiopia approved in 2007. The Government of Sudan is funding activities in Sudan. The Regional Irrigation and Drainage Project aims to develop and expand irrigated agriculture and improve

5671-469: The Ethiopianist tradition they are often transcribed with a dot below the letter. The notation of central vowels in the Ethiopianist tradition is shown in angled brackets. The voiced bilabial plosive /b/ is phonetically realized as a voiced labial approximant [β̞] medially between sonorants in non- geminated form. The fricative ejective / sʼ / is heard as a fricative ejective [ sʼ ], but

5778-565: The GERD reservoir could be diverted through tunnels to facilitate new irrigation schemes in Sudan close to the border with South Sudan . Evaporation of water from the reservoir is expected to be at 3% of the annual inflow volume of 48.8 km (11.7 cu mi), or 1.5 km (0.36 cu mi) annually. This was considered negligible by the IPoE. For comparison, Lake Nasser in Egypt loses between 10–16 km (2.4–3.8 cu mi) annually through evaporation. The main GERD contractor

5885-523: The Grave by placing a dot above the characters whose consonants were geminated, but this practice is rare. Punctuation includes the following: One may construct simple Amharic sentences by using a subject and a predicate . Here are a few simple sentences: ኢትዮጵያ ʾItyop̣p̣ya Ethiopia አፍሪካ ʾAfrika Africa ውስጥ wǝsṭ in ናት nat is ኢትዮጵያ አፍሪካ ውስጥ ናት ʾItyop̣p̣ya ʾAfrika wǝsṭ nat {Ethiopia} {Africa} {in} {is} 'Ethiopia

5992-501: The Nile Basin Initiative (NBI). Its mission is to help reduce poverty, promote economic growth, and reverse environmental degradation .” NELSAP programs fall under two broad program areas: Natural Resources Management and Development, and Power Development and Trade. This program area includes the following projects: This program area focuses on investment planning and preparation of major investment projects such as

6099-586: The River Nile and establish water sharing rights between the NBI states — a move strongly opposed by Egypt and Sudan. Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania were original signatories with Burundi signing in February 2011. The agreement was subsequently ratified by Ethiopia, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, and Burundi between 2013 and 2023, with South Sudan ratifying the CFA on 8 July 2024. The DRC abstained, while Egypt and Sudan refused to sign on after decrying

6206-429: The River Nile and establish water sharing rights between the NBI states — a move strongly opposed by Egypt and Sudan. The Cooperative Framework Agreement (CFA), which had been negotiated for years under the framework of the NBI, was to be open for signature for a period of one year. Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania signed the agreement; Ethiopia ratified it in 2013. The DR Congo abstained from signing

6313-584: The United Kingdom. Other donors to the NBI include Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Estonia, the EU and various UN agencies such as UNDP and the FAO . Until early 2008 donors have contributed over US$ 130 million of the original pledge of US$ 150 million. US$ 14.4 million has been contributed by the governments of the Nile Basin. In May 2010, five upstream states signed an agreement to seek more water from

6420-522: The agreement without having all countries sign at the same time. However, the signing was delayed and at the next Council of Minister meeting in April 2010 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt again asked to defer the signing. The article on water security (Article 14b) has particularly drawn objections from Egypt and Sudan. The article says that member countries would work together to ensure "not to significantly affect

6527-518: The agreement, while Egypt and Sudan refused to do so. An Egyptian government spokesman said in May 2010 that "Egypt will not join or sign any agreement that affects its share. The signing of the agreement had already been planned during a Ministerial meeting in 2007, but had been delayed at the request of Egypt. Upstream countries then decided at another Ministerial meeting in Kinshasa in May 2009 to sign

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6634-449: The alphabet used for writing the Geʽez language. There are 34 basic characters, each of which has seven forms depending on which vowel is to be pronounced in the syllable. There are also 49 "wa" letters, which form compound sounds involving "w." All together, the alphabet has some 280 letters. Until 2020 Amharic was the sole official language of Ethiopia. The 2007 census reported that Amharic

6741-499: The articles". An article on the protection and conservation of the basin and its ecosystem – such as the Sudd in Sudan – and an article requiring " prior informed consent " before building new dams had also been controversial during earlier negotiations. Representatives of upstream countries said they were "tired of first getting permission from Egypt before using river Nile water for any development project like irrigation", as required by

6848-399: The auxiliary spillway, sits in the centre of the main dam with an open width of about 225 m (738 ft) and a design discharge of 2,800 m/s (99,000 cu ft/s). This spillway has a base-level at 640 m (2,100 ft), which is exactly the full supply level of the reservoir. The dam crest is 15 m (49 ft) higher on both sides of the spillway. This ungated spillway

6955-453: The capacity factor shrank again and reached 28.6%. This time nobody publicly voiced concern. Such optimisation of the Francis turbines used at the dam site is indeed possible and is usually done by the provider of the turbines taking into account site-specific conditions. Considering the critics voiced about the alleged over-sizing of the possible power output, now of 6,450 MW. Ethiopia

7062-537: The center of gravity of the Kingdom of Aksum and the ensuing integration and Christianization of the proto-Amhara also resulted in a high prevalence of Geʽez sourced lexicon in Amharic. Some time after the 9th century AD, Amharic diverged from its closest relative, Argobba , probably due to religious differences as the Argobba adopted Islam. In 1983, Lionel Bender proposed that Amharic may have been constructed as

7169-513: The construction of the dam had been completed. In 2012, the International Panel of Experts was formed with experts from Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia and other independent entities to discuss mainly engineering and partially impact related questions. This panel concluded at a number of engineering modifications, that were proposed to Ethiopia and the main contractor constructing the dam. One of the two main engineering questions, dealing with

7276-498: The core inhabitants of Greater Ethiopia would have consisted of dark-skinned agropastoralists speaking Afro-Asiatic languages of the Semitic, Cushitic and Omotic branches. Other scholars such as Messay Kebede and Daniel E. Alemu argue that migration across the Red Sea was defined by reciprocal exchange, if it even occurred at all, and that Ethio-Semitic-speaking ethnic groups should not be characterized as foreign invaders. Amharic

7383-574: The courts, the language of trade and everyday communications and of the military since the late 12th century. The Amhara nobles supported the Zagwe prince Lalibela in his power struggle against his brothers which led him to make Amharic Lessana Negus as well as fill the Amhara nobles in the top positions of his Kingdom. The appellation of "language of the king" ( Ge'ez : ልሳነ ነጋሢ ; "Lǝssanä nägaśi," Amharic : የነጋሢ ቋንቋ "Yä-nägaśi qʷanqʷa") and its use in

7490-446: The crest of the main dam was raised. The rock saddle dam went up to a height of 50 m (160 ft), an increase of 5 metres (16 ft), with a length of 5,200 m (17,100 ft), an increase of 400 metres (1,300 ft). The volume of the rock saddle dam increased to 16.5 million cubic metres (580 × 10 ^  cu ft), an increase of 1.5 million cubic metres (53 × 10 ^  cu ft). The zero level of

7597-443: The dam will be the largest hydroelectric power plant in Africa and among the 20 largest in the world . The first phase of filling the reservoir began in July 2020 and in August 2020 the water level increased to 540 meters (40 meters higher than the bottom of the river which is at 500 meters above sea level). The second phase of filling was completed on 19 July 2021, with water levels increased to around 575 meters. The third filling

7704-521: The drought years 2015/16 and it was only the Gilgel Gibe III powerplant, that in 2016 just started to run in trial service on a 14 km well-filled reservoir, that saved the economy of Ethiopia. The GERD reservoir, once it has been filled, has a total water volume of 74 km, 3 times the volume of Ethiopia's largest lake, Lake Tana . Filling it takes 5–15 years and even by using all generating units at maximum capacity will not drain it within

7811-512: The electricity from the dam would require the construction of massive transmission lines to major consumption centers such as Sudan's capital Khartoum , located more than 400 km away from the dam. These export sales would come on top of electricity that is expected to be sold from other large hydropower plants. Powerplants that have been readied or are under construction in Ethiopia, such as Gilgel Gibe III or Koysha , whose exports (if given surplus energy) will mainly be going to Kenya through

7918-465: The engineering comlpetion reached 91%, while the total construction completion was 78.3%. In May 2021, Minister of Water and Irrigation Seleshi Bekele mentioned that 80% of dam construction was complete. The third filling of the GERD reservoir reached its conclusion on 12 August 2022, reaching a height of 600 metres (2,000 ft). As of April 2023, Ethiopia's Office of National Coordination announced that 90% of construction had been completed. Subsequently,

8025-550: The entire 84 km (68,000,000 acre⋅ft) annual flow of the Nile. After the IPoE made its recommendations, in 2013, the dam parameters were changed to account for higher flow volumes in case of extreme floods: a main dam height of 155 m (509 ft), an increase of 10 m (33 ft), with a length of 1,780 m (5,840 ft) (no change) and a dam volume of 10.2 million cubic metres (360 × 10 ^  cu ft), an increase of 100,000 m (3,500,000 cu ft). The outlet parameters did not change, only

8132-561: The filling period. The second phase of filling of the GERD reservoir was completed on 19 July 2021, with estimates of reaching the level of 573 metres (1,880 ft) (a.m.s.l) and retaining no more than 4.5 km (1.1 cu mi) at this stage. At this time, the volume of water at the GERD reservoir approached nearly 4.12 billion m³, measured using images from the Sentinel-1A satellite. In February 2021, Ethiopian Minister of Water and Irrigation, Seleshi Bekele, mentioned that

8239-464: The first to go into operation with 750 MW delivered to the national power grid, the first turbine was commissioned in February 2022 and the second one in August 2022. The two units sit within the 10 unit powerhouse to the right side of the dam. They are fed by two special intakes within the dam structure located at a height of 540 m (1,770 ft) above sea level. The power generation started at

8346-563: The first year filling was 4.9 billion m³, while the dam has capacity to hold 74 billion m³ when completed. The first phase of filling the reservoir began in July 2020, to a maximum depth of 70 metres (230 ft) utilising a temporary sill. Further construction work was necessary before the reservoir could be filled to a level required for electricity generation. Subsequently, it was reported that it would take between 4 and 7 years to fill with water, depending on hydrologic conditions during

8453-497: The fourth filling was completed on 10 September 2023, with water levels reaching approximately 625 metres (2,051 ft). As of March 2024, preceding the 13th anniversary of the foundation stone laying for the Renaissance Dam project, the construction reached 95% completion, which included the accomplishment of 98.9% of the civil works and 78% of the electro-mechanical work. In the meantime, the hydroelectric project boasted

8560-532: The generated power is delivered to the national grid. Four 500 kV main power transmission lines were completed in August 2017, all going to Holeta and then with several 400 kV lines to the metropolitan area of Addis Ababa . Two 400 kV lines run from the dam to the Beles Hydroelectric Power Plant . Also planned are 500 kV high-voltage direct current lines. Two non-upgraded turbine-generators with 375 MW were

8667-440: The government pledged to use only domestic production. In March 2012, Salini awarded the Italian firm Tratos Cavi SPA a contract to supply low and high voltage cable for the dam. Alstom provided the eight Francis turbines for the project's first phase, at a cost of €250 million. As of April 2013, nearly 32 percent of the project was complete, with site excavation and some concrete placement underway. One concrete batch plant

8774-438: The height of the dam is a dead height for the reservoir, leading to a dead storage volume of the reservoir of 14.8 km (12,000,000 acre⋅ft). The project has three spillways , the primary used approximately 18,000 cubic meters of concrete. These spillways together are designed for up to 30,200 m/s (1,070,000 cu ft/s), the probable maximum flood event. All waters from the three spillways will discharge into

8881-520: The initial filling process of the reservoir. The space below the "bottom" outlets is the primary buffer space for alluvium through siltation and sedimentation . For the Roseires Reservoir just downstream from the GERD site, the average siltation and sedimentation volume (without GERD in place) amounts to around 0.035 km (28,000 acre⋅ft) per year. Due to the large size of the GERD reservoir, its siltation and sedimentation volume

8988-443: The main dam, the ground level, is at an elevation of about 500 m (1,600 ft) above sea level , corresponding roughly to the level of the river bed of the Blue Nile. Counting from the ground level, the main gravity dam is 155 m (509 ft) tall, 1,780 m (5,840 ft) long and composed of roller-compacted concrete . The crest of the dam is at an elevation of 655 m (2,149 ft) above sea level. The outlets of

9095-592: The next 20 years, including social and environmental concerns. The Regional Rusumo Falls Hydroelectric and Multipurpose Project on the Kagera River is expected to be a dam with an associated run-of-the river hydropower plant that is expected to benefit Burundi, Rwanda and Tanzania. The project was identified as one of the best power options through the above-mentioned NELSAP Assessment of Power Development Options. The hydroelectric power component would have an installed capacity of approximately 60-80 megawatts. It

9202-482: The number of geographically distinct Cushitic languages that have influenced Amharic at different points in time (e.g. Oromo influence beginning in the 16th century) support a natural evolution of Amharic from a Proto-Ethio-Semitic language with considerable Cushitic influences (similar to Gurage, Tigrinya, etc.). The Amharic ejective consonants correspond to the Proto-Semitic " emphatic consonants ." In

9309-580: The operation of a $ 4 billion hydropower dam that Ethiopia is building on the Nile have reached a deadlock. Beginning in November 2019, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Steven T. Mnuchin began facilitating negotiations among the three countries. The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) is estimated to cost close to 5 billion US dollars, about 7% of the 2016 Ethiopian gross national product. The lack of international financing for projects on

9416-774: The productivity of existing agriculture through more efficient use of water. It consists of three national sub-projects: The Flood Preparedness and Early Warning Project , a US$ 4 million project approved in 2007 with an expected duration of three years, will focus on building flood forecasting capabilities and flood emergency preparedness and response. This will include efforts to improve dissemination of flood warning information to communities at risk, strengthen existing institutions and mechanisms to alert communities; establish community-based plans to reduce flood damages and capture environmental benefits; deliver public education programs; and develop regional and local emergency preparedness and response plans. The multi-purpose track includes

9523-410: The rainy season. Targeting near peak or peak flow rate makes no economic sense." In 2017, the total installed capacity was moved to 6,450 MW, without changing the number and nameplate capacity of the generating units (which then remained at 6,000 MW in total). This was thought to arrive from enhancements made to the generators. The expected power generation per annum went up to 16,153 GWh,

9630-409: The reservoir for a few weeks. A month later, on 21 July, Ethiopian prime minister, Abiy Ahmed , announced that the first phase of filling the reservoir had been completed. The early filling was attributed to heavy rains. In his statement, Abiy stated that "We have successfully completed the first dam filling without bothering and hurting anyone else. Now the dam is overflowing downstream". The target for

9737-442: The reservoir for early generation was completed on 20 July 2020. Two "bottom" outlets at 542 m (1,778 ft) above sea level or 42 m (138 ft) above the local river bed level are available for delivering water to Sudan and Egypt under special circumstances, in particular for irrigation purposes downstream, if the level of the reservoir falls below the minimum operating level of 590 m (1,940 ft) but also during

9844-421: The rock basement, with the potential to cause a sliding process downstream. The panel didn't argue that a catastrophic dam failure with a release of dozens of cubic kilometres of water would be possible, probable or even likely, but did argue that the safety factor with respect to avoiding such a catastrophic failure might be non-optimal in the case of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. It was later revealed that

9951-639: The royal court are otherwise traced to the Amhara Emperor Yekuno Amlak . It is one of the official languages of Ethiopia , together with other regions like Oromo , Somali , Afar , and Tigrinya . Amharic is an Afro-Asiatic language of the Southwest Semitic group and is related to Geʽez , or Ethiopic, the liturgical language of the Ethiopian Orthodox church; Amharic is written in a slightly modified form of

10058-516: The saddle dam is at an elevation of about 600 m (2,000 ft) above sea level. The surface is concrete to keep the interior dry. The saddle dam is just 3.3–3.5 km (2–2 mi) away from the border with Sudan, much closer to the border than the main dam. The reservoir behind both dams has a storage capacity of 74 km (60,000,000 acre⋅ft) and a surface area of 1,874 km (724 sq mi) when at full supply level of 640 m (2,100 ft) above sea level. The full supply level

10165-456: The site, opposes the dam, which it believes will reduce the amount of water available from the Nile. Zenawi argued, based on an unnamed study, that the dam would not reduce water availability downstream and would also regulate water for irrigation. In May 2011, it was announced that Ethiopia would share blueprints for the dam with Egypt so that the downstream impact could be examined. The dam was originally called "Project X", and after its contract

10272-413: The size of flood events and the constructive response against them, was later addressed by the contractor. The emergency spillway located near the rock saddle dam saw an increase of the rim length from 300 m to 1,200 m to account even for the largest possible flood of the river. The second main recommendation of the panel however found no immediate resolution. This second recommendation dealt with

10379-415: The storage parameters. Originally, in 2011, the dam was planned to be 145 m (476 ft) tall with a volume of 10.1 million m³. The reservoir was planned to have a volume of 66 km (54,000,000 acre⋅ft) and a surface area of 1,680 km (650 sq mi) at full supply level. The rock-filled saddle dam beside the main dam was planned to have a height of 45 m (148 ft) meters,

10486-437: The structural integrity of the dam in context with the underlying rock basement as to avoid the danger of a sliding dam due to an unstable basement. It was argued by the panel that the original structural investigations considered only a generic rock mass without taking special conditions like faults and sliding planes in the rock basement ( gneiss ) into account. The panel noted that there was indeed an exposed sliding plane in

10593-478: The two powerhouses are below the ground level, therefore the total height of the dam 185 m (607 ft) is slightly higher than the given height of the dam. The structural volume of the dam is 10,400,000 m (13,600,000 cu yd). The main dam is 14 km (9 mi) from the border with Sudan. Supporting the main dam and reservoir is a curved and 4.9 km (3 mi) long and 50 m (164 ft) high rock-filled saddle dam . The ground level of

10700-401: The underlying basement of the dam was completely different from all expectations and did not fit the geological studies as the needed excavation works exposed the underlying gneiss. The engineering works then had to be adjusted, with digging and excavating deeper than originally planned, which took extra time and capacity and also required more concrete. Originally, in 2011, the hydropower plant

10807-535: The water security of any other Nile Basin State." Egypt and Sudan want the article to read "Not to adversely affect the water security and current uses and rights of any other Nile Basin States" without the qualification "significantly". A former Egyptian minister of water resources and irrigation, Mahmoud Abu-Zeid, sees the framework agreement as a positive beginning, saying that "everybody agreed to more than 95 percent of

10914-534: Was announced it was called the Millennium Dam. On 15 April 2011, the Council of Ministers renamed it Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. Ethiopia has a potential for about 45 GW of hydropower. The dam is being funded by government bonds and private donations. It was slated for completion in July 2017. The potential impacts of the dam have been the source of severe regional controversy. The Government of Egypt,

11021-430: Was completed on 12 August 2022 to a level of 600 metres (2,000 ft). The fourth filling was completed on 10 September 2023 with water levels at around 625 metres (2,051 ft). On 20 February 2022, the dam produced electricity for the first time, delivering 375 MW to the grid. A second 375 MW turbine was commissioned in August 2022. The third and fourth 400 MW turbines were commissioned in August 2024. The name that

11128-503: Was completed with another under construction. Diversion of the Blue Nile was completed on 28 May 2013 and marked by a ceremony the same day. In October 2019, the work was approximately 70% complete. As of March 2020, the steelworks reached 35% complete, civil works were 87% complete while electro-mechanical works were 17% complete, to attain overall 71% construction completed according to Belachew Kasa, Project Deputy Director. On 26 June 2020, Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia agreed to delay filling

11235-466: Was conducted between 1956 and 1964 during the reign of Emperor Haile Selassie . Due to the coup d'état of 1974 , Somalia's invasion of Ethiopia in 1977–78, and the 15-year-long Ethiopian Civil War , however, the project failed to progress. The Ethiopian Government surveyed the site in October 2009 and August 2010. In November 2010, a design for the dam was submitted by James Kelston. On 31 March 2011,

11342-475: Was spoken by 21.6 million native speakers in Ethiopia. More recent sources state the number of first-language speakers in 2018 as nearly 32 million, with another 25 million second-language speakers in Ethiopia. Additionally, 3 million emigrants outside of Ethiopia speak the language. Most of the Ethiopian Jewish communities in Ethiopia and Israel speak Amharic. Furthermore, Amharic is considered

11449-497: Was to receive 15 generating units with 350 MW nameplate capacity each, resulting in a total installed capacity of 5,250 MW with an expected power generation of 15,128 GWh per annum. The capacity factor of the planned hydropower plant – the expected electricity production divided by the potential production if the power plant was utilised permanently at full capacity – was only 32.9% compared to 45–60% for other, smaller hydropower plants in Ethiopia. Critics concluded that

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