GERD

When Ethiopia inaugurates the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on the Blue Nile on September 9th, it will be Africa's largest hydropower source (see map). But to Ethiopians, millions of whom helped pay for it by buying shares, it is far more than that. "This project means the end of Ethiopia’s geopolitical insignificance," Abiy Ahmed, Ethiopia's prime minister, declared on September 1st. […] Yet Mr Abiy's enthusiasm is not universally shared. The dam could be an economic boon, but it has long caused rancour between Ethiopia and Egypt and, to a lesser degree, Sudan. Years of negotiations have failed to produce an agreement on how the three countries will share the water from the river, particularly in times of drought. The dam has the potential to benefit the entire region. […] In theory, the GERD could boost the region's economy. […] That will happen only if Ethiopia builds better transmission lines to connect more people to the grid and to send more power to its neighbours.

2025 September 8, “The promise and peril of Ethiopia's new mega-dam: It could power the region or plunge it into another conflict”, in The Economist