Gilgel Gibe III Dam
The Gilgel Gibe III Dam is a 250m high roller-compacted concrete dam with an associated hydroelectric power plant on the Omo River in Ethiopia. It is located about 62 km (39 mi) west of Sodo in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region. Once fully commissioned, it will be the third largest hydroelectric plant in Africa with a power output of about 1,870 Megawatt (MW), thus more than doubling total installed capacity in Ethiopia from its 2007 level of 814 MW. The Gibe III dam is part of the Gibe cascade, a series of dams including the existing Gibe I dam (184 MW) and Gibe II power station (420 MW) as well as the planned Gibe IV (1,472 MW) and Gibe V (560 MW) dams. The existing dams are owned and operated by the state-owned Ethiopian Electric Power, which is also the client for the Gibe III Dam.
| Gilgel Gibe III Dam | |
|---|---|
Location of Gilgel Gibe III Dam in Ethiopia | |
| Country | Ethiopia |
| Location | between Wolayita Zone and Dawro Zone, Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region |
| Coordinates | 6°50′50″N 37°18′5″E |
| Purpose | Power |
| Status | Operational; power station undergoing commissioning |
| Construction began | 2006 |
| Opening date | October 2015 |
| Construction cost | US$1.8 billion |
| Owner(s) | Ethiopian Electric Power |
| Dam and spillways | |
| Type of dam | Gravity, roller compacted concrete |
| Impounds | Omo River |
| Height | 250 m (820 ft) |
| Length | 610 m (2,000 ft) |
| Spillways | 1 |
| Spillway type | floodgate |
| Spillway capacity | 18,000 m3/s (640,000 cu ft/s) |
| Reservoir | |
| Creates | Gilgel Gibe III Reservoir |
| Total capacity | 14.7 km3 (11,900,000 acre⋅ft) |
| Active capacity | 11.75 km3 (9,530,000 acre⋅ft) |
| Inactive capacity | 2.95 km3 (2,390,000 acre⋅ft) |
| Catchment area | 34,150 km2 (13,190 sq mi) |
| Surface area | 210 km2 (81 sq mi) |
| Normal elevation | 893 m (2,930 ft) |
| Power Station | |
| Commission date | 2015-2016 |
| Type | Conventional |
| Turbines | 10 x 187 MW Francis-type |
| Installed capacity | 1,870 MW |
| Annual generation | 6,500 GWh Est. |
The US$1.8 billion project began in 2006 and electricity generation started in October 2015. The remaining generators were operational by 2016. The project has experienced serious delays; in May 2012, full commissioning had been scheduled for June 2013. The dam was inaugurated by Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn on 17 December 2016.
Local and international environmental groups forecast major negative environmental and social impacts of the dam and criticized the project's environmental and social impact assessment as insufficient. Because of this and accusations that the entire approval process for the project was suspect, funding for the full construction cost was not secured, as the African Development Bank delayed a decision about a loan pending a review of the dam's environmental impact by its compliance review and mediation unit. This dates back to August 2009 when they accepted a call from NGOs for such a review. In August 2010 Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi vowed to complete the dam "at any cost", saying the dam's critics "don’t want to see developed Africa; they want us to remain undeveloped and backward to serve their tourists as a museum."