Follow Us We are first in your inbox with the most important news in the industry―keeping you smarter and one-step ahead in this ever-changing and competitive market.Start your free subscription Tensions Intensify as Ethiopia Readies to Start GERD Mega-Dam Turbines Despite continued pressure from Egypt and Sudan, Ethiopia will push ahead on the second-year filling of the 6.4-GW Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) reservoir this summer with ambitions to begin operating two of its 16 planned turbines later this year. Ethiopia’s Foreign Minister Demeke Mekonnen, who also serves as the East African nation’s deputy prime minister, during a May 20 webinar said the massive dam’s second-year filling would be conducted as “scheduled and agreed [to] by the National Independent Scientific Research Group (NISRG).” The NISRG references a technical consultation conducted by 15 hydrologists from Ethiopia, Egypt, and Sudan starting in mid-2018. While the panel laid out four fundamental principles that should govern GERD’s filling, the countries ultimately failed to secure a complete consensus during its final meeting in October 2019. Ethiopia has said the consultation bolsters its plans to fill GERD in stages, over four to seven years, based on hydrology.