Ethiopia: GERD to Start Power Generation in 2021

The Ethiopian Minister of Water, Irrigation and Energy Dr. Seleshi Bekele said, on Thursday, that the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) will start the first phase of power generation in June of 2021.

Bekele’s statement came during a lecture he gave at University College London (UCL), on accelerating the development of renewable energy to have global energy access. This lecture  was attended by the representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Energy Affairs, according to state-afflialted "Fana" TV.

Bekele touched upon the great steps that Ethiopia is taking in the field of renewable energy generation for the sake of universal access to energy, which can be considered important matters for other countries.

Ethiopia assesses the project with self-financing and an energy production capacity of 5150 MW, which upon completion, will ensure clean energy for all its citizens.

On the other hand, the Sovereignty Council of Sudan announced, Thursday, that it has studied steps to extricate the stalled Renaissance Dam negotiations between Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia from their current impasse.

This came following a meeting between Chairman of Sudan's Sovereign Council Abdel Fattah al-Burhan along with Sudan’s Irrigation Minister Yasser Abbas, in which they reviewed the recent developments in the negotiation process, determining the steps that Sudan would take to get out of the current impasse.

Al-Burhan confirmed his full support for the position taken by the negotiating team.

The Chairman of Sudan's Sovereign Council stressed the need to mobilize national support for the Sudanese position, addressing the need to move at all political, diplomatic and security levels to do the same.

During a meeting, on November 4, of the water ministers of Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia to discuss the optimal framework for managing the ongoing negotiations under the auspices of the African Union, Cairo announced the failure to reach an agreement on the method for completing the negotiations in the next stage.

On his part, Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi affirmed Egypt's unyielding position to preserve its water rights in any agreement on the Grand Renaissance Dam.