GERD's Power Generation In Accordance with Declaration of Principles: Expert

Addis Ababa February 21/2022 Ethiopia's commencement of generating electric power from the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) is in accordance with the Declaration of Principles (DoP) that was signed by Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan in 2015, according to a water expert.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed officially commenced on Sunday partial power generation of the GERD being built on   the Nile River in Guba, Benishangul Gumuz Regional State of Ethiopia.

The turbine which went operational has a capacity to generate 375 megawatt of power.

Approached by ENA Fekahmed Negash, a well-known water expert underscored that the current power generation from this dam has never violated the Declaration of Principles (DoP) signed by the three riparian countries in Khartoum.

The commencement of generating electric power from the GERD is in accordance with the DoP, he said.

The expert underscored that the beginning of power generation disproves the wrong claim being raised by the downstream countries stating that "our volume of water will be reduced.”

However, the lower repairman countries particularly, Egypt said that Ethiopia's announcement of power generating is a violation of DoP signed between Addis Ababa, Cairo and Khartoum.

Water Expert Fekahmed Negash downplayed the statement as “it is a common false accusation by Egypt and Sudan.”

Fekahmed explained that the Declaration of Principles that was signed between the three countries doesn’t stipulate that Ethiopia should not generate power from the GERD.

For instance, the expert cited Article-5 of the Declaration of Principles says “Agree (the countries) on guidelines and rules on the first filling of GERD which shall cover all different scenarios, in parallel with the construction of GERD.”

Based on the guidelines of DoP, the construction of the dam is still 84 percent complete, it will continue. Because the construction of the dam literally includes water filling and drainage as well as power generation, he said.

As a result, the main purpose of holding water at the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam is to generate energy, he noted stating that there is no violation of DoP and no one will be harmed in the course of such actions.

Noting that “Egypt and Sudan are aware that the construction of the GERD will not affect their water shares,” the expert stressed the need to provide the necessary response and analysis for any distortion regarding the dam.

The expert urged for the speedy completion of GERD to reduce the external pressure against Ethiopia as well as the misinformation about the dam.

Upon completion, the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam which has 13 turbines will generate a cumulated capacity of 5150 MW.