Gibe III to be inaugurated

 

Addis Ababa December 15, 2016 The Gibe III dam, the third in a series of cascading hydroelectric projects in the Gibe-Omo area, will be inaugurated on Saturday.

The Gibe III dam is part of a series of dams including the existing Gibe I (184MW) and Gibe II (420MW) as well as the planned Gibe IV (1472 MW) and Gibe V (560 MW) dams.

The construction of the project with an installed generation capacity of 1870MW consumed 1.5 billion Euros. 

Forty percent of the total cost for the construction of the dam was covered by the Ethiopian government, while the balance was secured from Industrial and Commercial Bank of China in the form of loan.

Gibe III, the third largest hydroelectric plant in Africa, will increase the country's total installed capacity to 4,260MW, Public Relation Director for the Ethiopian Electric Power Misikir Negash told ENA.

The roller-compacted concrete dam has 10 turbines, each with a generation capacity of 187MW. 

The reservoir of the dam which will have a capacity to hold 15 billion cubic meters of water is situated on 896 meters above sea level.

Few turbines of the dam have already started generating power last year, Misikir added.

The dam is located 450km away from Addis Ababa in the South Nations Nationalities and Peoples Regional State.

Salini Impregilo, an Italian construction company conducted the civil work, while the mechanical and electrical parts were done by the Chinese based Dongfang Electric Corporation (DEC).