Ethiopia’s largest hydro power plant, Gibe III, is going to start electricity production in the second half of this year, if annual rain sufficiently fills its reservoir, Water and Energy Minister, Alemayehu Tegenu said.

The rainy season from June to August should make it possible for Ethiopian Electric Power Office, EEPO, to commence producing 187 megawatts of electricity from one of the ten turbines installed at the dam, Alemayehu told Bloomberg. Gibe III is the latest of four large-scale Ethiopian dams built by the government since 2004. Its aim is to supply power to manufacturing industries and produce excess electricity to sell to neighboring countries.

After the plants starts generation, EEPO plans to bring a turbine online every month if there is sufficient water in the reservoir. But, the numbers are limited depending on the amount of rainfall, Alemayehu noted.

According to the project’s website, 11.8 billion cubic meters (3.1 trillion gallons) of water stored in the dam can be released downstream for power generation or other purposes.

Moreover, Gibe III will regulate water flows to end annual flooding in the southwestern South Omo region and make available a year round supply for downstream irrigation projects besides power generation.

China’s Chengdu-based Dongfang Electric Corporation built the electro-mechanical works of Gibe III using $470 million loan advanced from the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China. The total project cost is 1.47 billion euros according to the Gibe III website.

Source: Bloomberg