Ethiopia Successfully Completes Second Phase Filling of GERD

July 19/2021(ENA) Ethiopia announced on Monday that it has successfully completed second phase of the filling of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).

Minister of Water, Irrigation and Energy, Eng. Seleshi Bekele, said that “today, July 19, 2021, the second year of filling of the Renaissance Dam was completed.”

“Thanks to the heavy rains that we have been receiving,” the Minister said, adding that the water has now been flowing on the top of the dam.

According to him, currently, the amount of water needed to run the two turbines of the dam was accomplished.

“The 2nd round filling of our flagship project – the GERD has been completed. The dam’s two turbines will soon generate electric power. Congratulations Ethiopia,” the Minister twitted indicating that the country have done a lot of work this year to reach to this point.

The nation will exert the necessary efforts with a view to generating energy by using the two turbines and we will be able to realize that in the coming months, Sileshi noted.

The first year impoundment was 4.9 billion cubic meters while the second round filling is 13.5 billion cubic meters.

Currently, over 80 per cent of the construction of the dam has been completed.

When fully operational, the dam will become the largest hydro-electric plant in Africa, providing power to some 65 million Ethiopians, who currently lack a regular electricity supply.

Source: Ethiopia News Agency