Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam

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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 Guddicha Haaromsa Itoophiyaa), formerly known as the Millennium Dam and sometimes referred to as the Hidase Dam (Amharic: ሕዳሴ ግድብ, romanized: Hidāsē Gidib, Oromo: Hidha Hidāsē), is a gravity dam on the Blue Nile River in Ethiopia. The dam is in the Metekel Zone of the Benishangul-Gumuz Region, close to the border with Sudan. Constructed between 2011 and 2025, the dam's primary purpose is electricity production to relieve Ethiopia's acute energy shortage and to export electricity to neighbouring countries. With an installed capacity of 5.15 gigawatts, the dam is 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 rose to an altitude of 540 metres (40 metres higher than the bottom of the river, which...

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