Ethiopia has been trekking to the summit of prosperity through ensuring its sovereignty and declaring independence in all aspects. Of the very passages towards this end, the construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) in Guba Woreda of Benishangul-Gumuz Regional State comes at the forefront. Grippingly, the dam’s second filling is well secured recently.
Undeniably, this Ethiopians flagship project is of paramount importance in providing Ethiopia and the Horn with multiple meaningful significances via fulfilling energy and development demands, realizing regional integration, development and unity in a very justified manner.
The government of Ethiopia has set a goal of providing access to electricity to all its citizens within the shortest time possible though it has remained a long way to go. The country is working day in and day out to meet the demands of the ever mind-blogging population growth. Yes, power industry is extraordinarily important these days as growing urban as well as rural population means growing energy demand.
Fearing that Ethiopia will economically shine out, and being Africa’s freedom pioneer and prominent star repeating the role it played in making colonizers dream void at the Battle of Adwa, some western countries and others which do not want to see its growth and change have left no stone unturned to hold the growth of this great nation—Ethiopia—back.
Making disproportion alien with this conspiracy, the neighboring country Sudan, is working restlessly to destabilize Ethiopia. Sudan jointly with and being a troy horse of Egypt has done odd things against Ethiopia by invading its land through the bordering Amhara State when killing and evacuating the residents, looting and burning their properties.
Though Sudan is complaining about Ethiopia because of the GERD, it is not the right issue. Rather, when it invades the land and supports TPLF in training and other means, it is attempting to delay Ethiopia from its renaissance journey via weakening it economically. Be it is, the journey of Ethiopia’s renaissance will not be stumbled by this conspiracy. The reality, however, is Ethiopia’s growth and development does not make any harm against Sudan instead, it benefits not only the Sudan, but also Egypt in many ways.
Water and Land Administration Researcher at Addis Ababa University, Ermias Teferi (PhD) said that the GERD will hold 74 billion cubic meters of water when completed. This by itself will step up Ethiopia’s position in continental, regional and international politics as well as developmental arena. It has also significantly enabled the country to meet the power demand apart from utilizing the water for multipurpose touristic and investment activities.
GERD, Ethiopians self-sponsored project, will raise the benefits the lower basin countries garner, and rescue Sennar and Roseires Dam of Sudan from being filled with sediments, he said.
According to him, Sudan has been cultivating over 800 thousand hectares of land using irrigation by a 100 years old Sennar dam alone. Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt can run virtual water trading based on mutual beneficiary without putting significant harm on one another if they have reached upon agreement.
He further said sometimes they spend 40 up to 90 million USD to remove sediments from the dam per year, but GERD is of significantly useful in meaningfully reducing such incurring costs. Roseires Dam, which was built in 1989, has not been operational for several years because the huge sediment blocked the water from flowing into the turbine. However, this difficulty is being managed well said Tena Alamirew (PhD), Researcher of Water and Land Resource Center at Addis Ababa University.
“The GERD has multiple benefits for all lower basin countries in terms of reducing the amount of sediment and the cost to avoid it, reducing the damages of both the public and property via containing the impact of heavy flood etc. Hence, Sudan and Egypt should support the effort of the Ethiopian government and people along this line instead of developing mistrust,” he added.
Sudan’s compliant regarding Ethiopia’s dam is basically meaningless as this sentiment doesn’t give any sense in terms of benefiting Sudan, Ethiopia and Egypt he said adding GERD will realize peace, security, development and unity of the Horn in particular and the entire continent in general.
Without a shadow of doubt, hydropower based development in Ethiopia will provide the nation with a gateway to economic transformation through industrialization, urbanization, and the provision of access to modern energy to rural areas, too.
It is well recognized that some 65 percent of Ethiopians have led life in darkness as they are devoid of access to electricity. Hence, the renewable energy secured from the dam can provide these citizens with one of the most effective strategies to simultaneously promote clean development, sustainable access and energy security with its irreplaceable role in climate change mitigation at all levels.
In this contemporary world, more than two-thirds of the world’s renewable electricity comes from hydropower dams. Investment in hydropower generation very often has multiple water resources development benefits. It has a benefit to provide regulation and storage structure, enhance capacity to mitigate the adverse impact of climate change resulting in pronounced flood and drought, play crucial roles in stabilizing the energy mix, easily take peak loads, and enable access to relatively cheap electricity in many countries of the African continent.
Dr. Tena said, “Needless to state, hydropower generation, which is going to be generated from GERD, can serve as a catalyst and entry point for regional collaboration, regional integration and the formation of broader regional markets and industrialization in trans-boundary Rivers. It also provides a platform for inter-riparian win-win cooperation to engage in terms of energy and power trade, in the coordination and regulation of water infrastructure, and in the maintenance and rehabilitation of ecosystems.”
In the past two decades, electric power development policies and activities have played a pivotal role in achieving economic growth and prosperity in Ethiopia with the ultimate goal of facilitating regional economic cooperation and integration through the additional mission of interconnecting neighboring countries with electricity.
As to him, this renewable energy source is also sensitive to climate change because of its dependence on river runoff, a resource which is dependent on a climate-driven hydrological cycle. Run-off depends on meteorological parameters such as precipitation and temperature. In the future, some regions of the world will experience increased runoff while others will have reduced runoff as a result of global warming.
As Ethiopia, like many other countries, is impacted by the effects of climate change, the government has initiated the Climate-Resilient Green Economy (CRGE) strategy to protect the country from the effects of climate change and to build a green economy.
The key to attaining green and low-carbon development is clean energy development, where hydropower plays the major role. Developing hydropower for domestic consumption and exporting the excess amount to neighboring countries would mean to take the leading role to meet the ambition of being an East African power house.
Hydropower plays the lion’s share, especially in developing countries due to its proven technical and technological ease and relatively low cost per Megawatt investment. It also encompasses other services such as freshwater management, climate mitigation, climate adaptation services, firm energy, energy storage and other ancillary services, he opined.
Needless to state, energy access is increasingly seen as a vital catalyst to wider social and economic development, enabling education, health and sustainable agriculture as well as creating jobs.
Renewable energy mixes from wind, solar and geothermal sources are expected to be increased significantly in the coming future in Ethiopia. Ethiopian policy and strategy emphasizes the diversity of the energy mix by developing wind, solar and geothermal, etc, to complement hydropower. On the other hand, it is equally important to guard against the negative impacts of hydropower development and to pay close attention to climate resilience, social inclusion and environmental services.
“Ethiopia is a case in point in this regard. More than 60 million people in Ethiopia, population of over 110 million, lack access to electricity. The country is still recording progress despite all a multitude of challenges surrounding it. Significant generating capacity additions will be needed to help reach Ethiopia’s intended goal,” Dr. Tena said.
Generally, Ethiopia is one of the fastest growing nations of the continent and becoming a center of industry and new infrastructure, with the aspiration to achieve middle-income status soon. It has implemented the Climate-Resilient Green Economy (CRGE) strategy since 2011, which substitutes conventional development by means of harnessing clean energy sources like hydropower, wind, geothermal, solar and biomass as well as implementing energy-efficient technologies in the transport and industrial sectors. A good example is the issue of GERD. Its construction is progressing as per the set time frame, with over 80 percent already complete. Yes, Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia agreed a new declaration for cooperation in March 2016 that alters the 1929 treaty, where Egypt had a veto over any upstream projects in the Nile River. This time around is a new chapter for Africa.
History has to be made. Obsolete narrations in relation to colonial agreement and water hegemony has to be prettily altered and GERD has to be made Horn center of cooperation, not confrontation.
The Ethiopian herald 15/2021
