Gilgel Gibe River
Encyclopedia
Gibe River
The Gibe River is a tributary of the Omo River. Located in southwest Ethiopia, it is not navigable, like almost all rivers in the country.-Overview:...
in southwest Ethiopia
Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
. It flows in an arc through the south of the Jimma Zone
Jimma Zone
Jimma is one of the 17 Zones of the Ethiopian Region of Oromia. Jimma is named for the former Kingdom of Jimma, which was absorbed into the former province of Kaffa in 1932...
, defining part of the Zone's boundary with that of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region west of the Omo River
Omo River
The Omo River is an important river of southern Ethiopia. Its course is entirely contained within the boundaries of Ethiopia, and empties into Lake Turkana on the border with Kenya...
as it turns north. It then joins the Gibe River less than ten miles from its own confluence with the Omo.
Hydroelectric potential
Plans to develop the hydroelectric potential of the Gilgel Gibe river were first announced in the 1980s.Construction of the Gilgel Gibe I Power Station
Gilgel Gibe I Power Station
The Gilgel Gibe I Power Station is a hydroelectric power plant of the Omo River in Ethiopia. It has a power generating capacity of 184 MW, enough to power over 123,200 homes....
started in 1986 and was completed in 2004, after being interrupted in the early 1990s. The plant includes a reservoir of about 850 cubic meters created by a dam about 40 meters high. The Gilgel Gibe river flows are therefore returned to the natural bed after having transformed the energy of the water into electricity through a powerplant equipped with three Francis turbines.
The resettlement
Resettlement and villagization in Ethiopia
Resettlement and villagization in Ethiopia has been an issue since the late nineteenth century, due to the overcrowded population of the Ethiopian highlands...
program required moving about 3,000 people to new areas including the people living under or near the power line connecting the power plant to Addis Ababa
Addis Ababa
Addis Ababa is the capital city of Ethiopia...
. Employing 307 expatriates from 32 countries and 4,015 local people, the plant was completed at a cost of about two billion birr
Ethiopian birr
The birr is the unit of currency in Ethiopia. Before 1976, dollar was the official English translation of birr. Today, it is officially birr in English as well....
and became Ethiopia's largest power plant, with a capacity of 184 megawatts.
The second phase of the development of the Gibe-Omo hydropower potential started with the Gilgel Gibe II Power Station
Gilgel Gibe II Power Station
The Gilgel Gibe II Power Station is a hydroelectric power station on the Omo River in Ethiopia. The power station receives water from a tunnel entrance on the Gilgel Gibe River. It has an installed capacity of 420 MW and was inaugurated on January 14, 2010...
.
The flows, regulated by the Gilgel Gibe I Dam, will be conveyed through a 26 km long hydraulic tunnel, the longest in Africa, to the Omo river about 2 kilometers downstream of the Gibe I. The plant will produce about 420 MW without requiring resettlement.
This second phase was 97.5% complete in August 2009 and is scheduled for commissioning on September 2009 onwards.
The Gibe III dam
The Gibe III Hydroelectric dam is a 243 m high roller-compacted concreteRoller-compacted concrete
Roller-compacted concrete or rolled concrete is a special blend of concrete that has essentially the same ingredients as conventional concrete but in different ratios, and increasingly with partial substitution of fly ash for Portland cement. RCC is a mix of cement/fly ash, water, sand, aggregate...
dam with an associated hydropower plant under construction on the Omo river
Omo River
The Omo River is an important river of southern Ethiopia. Its course is entirely contained within the boundaries of Ethiopia, and empties into Lake Turkana on the border with Kenya...
in Ethiopia
Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
. Once completed it would be the largest hydropower plant in Africa with a power output of about 1870 Megawatt (MW), thus more than doubling total installed capacity in Ethiopia from its 2007 level of 814 MW. A controversy has ensued over its construction, with several NGOs forming a campaign to oppose it. According to Terri Hathaway, director of International Rivers
International Rivers
International Rivers is a non-profit, non-governmental, environmental and human rights organization based in Berkeley, California, United States...
' Africa programme, Gibe III is "the most destructive dam under construction in Africa." The project would condemn "half a million of the region's most vulnerable people to hunger and conflict."
However, Azeb Asnake, project manager of Gibe III for the government power provider, said that a mitigation measure has been prepared in case something happens. Apart from this, Asnake predicted no adverse consequence from the project, adding that more than half of the people that live in the area are dependent on food aid and that the new station is necessary as currently the corporation is only supplying power for 25 per cent of the population.
External links
- The "white oil" of Ethiopia
- Africa Resources Working Group Commentary on Gibe III Dam
- The dam that divides Ethiopians March 2009 BBC NewsBBC NewsBBC News is the department of the British Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs. The department is the world's largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, as well as online...
report