Tekeze Dam -Ethiopia (Picture Courtesy -Pinterest)
The economic relationship between China and Ethiopia has become stronger through the years. Chinese contracts in construction, electricity and telecommunication sectors show a steady rise in development in Ethiopia over the last few years.
Tekeze Dam is one such project that dates back to 1995, when the Ethiopian Ministry of Water Resources conducted a study identifying this area as one of two preferred dam sites on the Tekeze River amenable to hydropower development.
At a cost of US$360 million, at 185 metres, the dam-developed and built by the state-owned Chinese National Water Resources and Hydropower Engineering Corporation – now known as Sinohydro – is the largest of its kind in Africa and produces over 300 MW of electricity.
This project was completed in 2009 – the first of its kind by China in Ethiopia.
The dam is a double curvature concrete arch dam which was designed to minimise the amount of concrete used, creating a reservoir 70 kilometres in length. An underground powerhouse, containing four 75 MW Francis Turbines, is located approximately 500 metres downstream of the dam and fed by a 75-metre-high intake structure connected by a 500-metre-long concrete-lined power tunnel. A 230 kV double-circuit transmission line 105 kilometres long was constructed through mountainous terrain to connect to the Ethiopian national grid.
In addition to power generation, the Tekeze dam enables regulation of river flow, allowing downstream communities year-round access to the water supply.
