Grand ethiopian renaissance dam analysis

Abstract

The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam is the first major dam in the Blue Nile (Abay) River of Ethiopia. GERD is a combination of 175 m high roller compacted concrete gravity dam and a 50 m high concrete faced rock fill saddle dam under construction by Ethiopia. The gravity dam is built across the natural course of the Blue Nile River and the saddle dam provides the design storage and water level due to the relatively low relief of the dam site. The dam is being built at the most downstream site of one of the four potential dam sites proposed by a 1964 feasibility study of the Blue Nile basin development conducted by United States Bureau of Reclamation. The dam has been under construction since 2011 with 70% completed at the beginning of 2018. The installed power generation capacity of 6,000 MW is expected to be generated by 16 Francis Turbines each with 375 MW capacity located at the foot of the main dam. The design flow rate of 4305 m3 s−1 is about 3 times the average flow. At the average flow rate, the expected average annual energy production is 15,700 GWH. The suitability of the dam site, dam design, major components and operations are discussed.