The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, GERD, has been embattled with controversy since its launch in 2011, with Egypt and Sudan claiming the $4 billion mega project could lead to water scarcity.
The Ethiopian government is however confident that the project will generate up to 6,500 megawatts of electricity, connecting an additional 60% of the population to the grid.
“The GERD is located in the highlands; the Aswan High Dam is on a much lower altitude where temperatures are higher. If you manage this sensibly and store more water in the GERD than in Lake Nasser, you will have lower evaporation losses, and thus both countries would have more water available for their respective hydropower generation,” said Hagen Koch, a senior scientist at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research For Ethiopia.
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