Brief

The Gibe III Hydroelectric Project is located in the Southern Nations Nationalities & Peoples Regional State in Wolayta and Dawro Zones at about 470 km south west of Addis Ababa on the main road via shashemene to wolayita and by fedder road from wolayita. It is situated along the lower course of the Omo River, some 155 km downstream of the Gilgel Gibe II Powerhouse. Having a height of 243m and total installed capacity of 1,870MW, the Gibe III Hydroelectric Project is the highest Roller Compacted Concrete (RCC) dam to facilitate better access to electricity for the nation as well the neighboring countries.

http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTAvXzJvoMxGVSOu_v2kZuVLc221ugiavEwxXdsm_RsetgzDPNYJbKf7AvE

The project consists of:

Roller Compacted Concrete (RCC) Dam & Reservoir: The Roller Compacted Concrete Dam has a maximum height of 243 m and 610m of crest length. The dam will create a reservoir with total storage capacity of 14,700 million m3 (with live storage of 11,750 million m3 (which is greater than the second biggest lake in ethiopia 'abaya'~8200million m3) and dead storage of 2,950 million m3 ). The reservoir area covered by water is about 210 km 2 .

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/713/unbenanntmkc.png/

The dam has the following general features:

-
crest level 896m
total crest length 610m
maximum flood level (PMF) 893m
maximum/normal operating level 892m
minimum operating level 800m
overflow spillway level 873m
overflow spillway length 108m
maximum height above river bed 223m
maximum height above foundation 243m
basic triangle opening 0.75m

http://tigraionline.com/gibeIII_dam.gif

Diversion Tunnels: Two diversion tunnels of 13 m diameter and a smaller 7 m diameter diversion tunnel, located on the right bank of the river. The river diversion will be effected by a conventional layout of tunnels and cofferdams and is designed to pass a flood of 5,200m 3 /s, which is approximately a 30 years return period flood event.

http://www.gibe3.com.et/photos_files/image162.jpg http://www.gibe3.com.et/diversionphoto_files/image005.jpg

Cofferdams: An upstream pre-cofferdam, upstream main cofferdam and a downstream cofferdam are envisaged. It will be useful to create a water head adequate to the large flow required to divert the water for the entire period of dam construction.

http://www.gibe3.com.et/cofferdam_files/image004.jpg

Power Tunnels: There are two power waterways comprising intakes, power tunnels, surge shafts, penstocks and manifolds, each branching into 5 turbine inlets are envisaged.

http://www.gibe3.com.et/photos_files/Power%20House.JPG

Powerhouse: A Powerhouse that is located at the toe of the dam on the left abutment, housing 10 Francis turbines with a power of 187 MW each for a total installed capacity of 1,870MW, 5 transformers are also installed at the back of the plant, converting the voltage from 15 kV to 400 kV.

http://www.gibe3.com.et/photos_files/POwer%20House%202.JPG

Switch Yard: The switch yard is located on the left side of the river, on a plateau above the powerhouse at elevation of 1,010m above sea level equipped with a double bus bar scheme from where the five three-phase 400kV transmission lines start.

Spillway: A gated spillway is designed to pass:

The design flood = 10,600 m 3 /s(10,000 years return period)
The exceptional flood = 18,000m 3 /s(Probable Maximum Flood)

1. EEPCO

The Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPCo) was named in 1997- after serving in the name of Ethiopian Electric Light and Power Authority(EELPA) which was established in 1956. EEPCo is responsible for generating, transmitting, distributing and sale of electric energy throughout the country.

Their website: EEPCO (http://www.eepco.gov.et/about%20EEPCO.php), I don't recommend to visit this website :lol:


Profile: is hard to find any business information about this company regarding their business profit and operation, but based on the project they run and from the activity they are engaged they r probably the most in debt state company in ethiopia. the future seems very bright though, since they will be the only company to export enegy to negibouring country and based on the profitability of the energy scetor (personal review)

2. Salini Costruttori SpA

Salini was awarded a turn key contract for this project on 19 th July 2006. Amendment was also made on the Contract Agreement on April 22, 2008 since changes happened to the scope of the work. Therefore salin is the major contractor for this project. the contract was awraded with non-Comptative biding.

profile:

Salini Costruttori is a private industrial group specialised in the construction of major works. It is the third Italian General Contractor, the group turnover amounting to € 1.1 billion (FY 2010) and works in hand amounting to € 15.7 billion. With about 14,000 employees in the world, it is ranked as one of the foremost players in the construction of hydro-electric power plants. 32 subsidiary companies in the key countries and sectors for its core business, together with 20 strategic shareholdings in other companies in Italy and abroad are all part of a system capable of competing for the major contracts in the world market.

Projects executed and committed in the last 10 years in ethiopia by salini

Chida Sodo Road Project in Ethiopia (Salini Sole Contractor)
Emergency Dire Dam Project, Ethiopia (Salini Sole Contractor)
Gilgel Gibe I Hydroelectric Project Lot 5: Dam and Appurtenant Works – Ethiopia (Salini Sponsor)
Gilgel Gibe I Hydroelectric Project Lot 1: Power Tunnel – Ethiopia (Salini partner)
Gilgel Gibe II HEP Road Component, Ethiopia (Salini sole contractor)
Gilgel Gibe II Hydroelectric Project 420 MW: Construction of the Right Bank Access Road and Adit 22 Camp Facilities – 26km Power Tunnel – Concrete Gravity Dam - Contract value approx. 390 million Euro (Salini EPC contractor).
Gibe III Hydroelectric Project 1870 MW: Construction of Rockfill Dam 230m high and power house equipped with 10 Francis turbines – Contract value approx 1470 million Euro (Salini EPC Contractor).
Beles Multipurpose Project: Construction of Powerhouse 460MW, 12km Headrace Tunnel, 7.2km Tailrace Tunnel – Contract value approx. 467 million Euro (Salini EPC contractor).


Their websit: Salini Costruttori (http://www.salini.it/index.php//)

3. ELC Electroconsult S.p.A

The quality control of the design and construction of the Gibe III was awarded to be carried out by ELC Electrocosult (Italy) with Coyne et Bellier(France).

profile: ELC Electroconsult was established in 1955, with the objective of making available on the international scene the expertise accumulated over the years by two major Italian private firms leading and pioneering since 1930 in the planning, design and construction of hydropower schemes in the Alps mountain range of Northern Italy. The company is based in Milan (Italy) and is fully privately owned. It is a world-wide consulting engineering company, registered with all major international lending agencies.

Past experience:

Itaipu, on the Brazilian/ Paraguayan border;
Inga, on the Congo river;
Damietta, in Egypt;
Mingechaur, in Azerbaijan;
Darajat, in Indonesia;
Majes, in Peru


website: ELC (http://www.elc-electroconsult.com/)

4. Coyne et Bellier

is the project consultant with ELC

weibsite: Coyne et Bellier (http://www.coyne-et-bellier.fr/en/index/index.html)

5. Dongfang Electric Corporation (DEC)

DEC is subcontacted to execute the electro and hydro-mechanical works of the Gibe III Hydroelectric Project at a cost 459 million $ to ease the financial burden on the ethiopian gov't by gaining a loan support from china Exim bank.

profile: DEC is an international Contractor which has leading role in contracting international power stations and a wide variety of large engineering projects, and exports complete plants and equipment to over 30 countries involving projects in such diverse fields as power generation, electric and mechanical works, power distribution and transmission, railways, environmental protection, heavy duty mining and metallurgy equipment, traffic and transportation, communication etc.,

DEC has recognition worldwide and been selected as one of The Top 225 International Contractors.

webisite: DEC (http://www.dongfang.com.cn/index.php/mains/)

6. RCC Conveyors-USA, LLC

Has built RCC Conveyors with a series of conveyors and Concrete Placers mounted on CAT crawler chassis for this project as a sub contractor.

profile: RCC Conveyors provide conveying and placing systems for civil projects of any size… anywhere in the world.

website: RCC Conveyors (http://www.rccc-usa.com/index.htm)

Great thread Teklu!

Salini starts filling Gibe III Dam :pepper::pepper::applause::applause:



Saturday, 24 December 2011 08:38
By KALEYESUS BEKELE


The Italian construction firm, Salini, last Saturday started filling the Gilgel Gibe dam.

Eng. Azeb Asnake, project manager of Gilgel Gibe III, told The Reporter that the contractor has finalised the basement work on the dam and started filling the dam with a special concrete called roller compacted concrete. “It is a dry mix concrete that is compacted by rollers. That is the kind of material we use to build the Gibe III dam,”Azeb said.

The dam, which will be 246 meter high and have a width of 600 meter, will consume six million cubic meter of concrete. The basement of the dam is, on average, 25 meter deep. It will have seven spillways and the water will flow to the power house from the dam through two tunnels each of which are 1.2-km-long. The power house is designed to house ten turbines.

The Gilbel Gibe III hydor power dam is being constructed 380 km south of Addis in the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples’ Regional State. It will have an installed capacity of 1870 MW.

Work on the project commenced in 2007 and the first unit was originally scheduled to launch power generation in September 2012. However, due to a change in the type of the dam this has been postponed to September 2013. First the dam was planned to be a rock-fill dam but was later changed into a roller compact dam.

The dam will have the capacity to hold 14-billion-cubic-meter of water. The artificial lake will cover 200 sq.km. Salini is undertaking the civil work while a Chinese firm, Dong Fan, is responsible for the electro-mechanical and hydro-mechanical work.

The total cost of the project is 1.5 billion euro. The Ethiopian government has so far invested 600 million euro from its own coffers. It has secured USD 470 million from a Chinese state owned bank.:applause::applause:

Azeb said that work on the project is going on according to schedule adding that 90 percent of the construction of the tunnels has been finalised. The power house is also under construction. According to the project manager, the project has created jobs for more than 3000 Ethiopians. “Roads have been built, so have a high school and health posts. The local communities are benefiting from the hydro power project. The local people have been employed in the project. And the local communities sell fruits and vegetables to the large number of people working on the project.”

Azeb dismisses the accusations levelled by environmentalists against the project. “The local population has not been displaced due to the dam construction. The place where the dam is built has an elevation of 600 meter. It is a very hot place infested by malaria and people prefer to live on the mountains to this unfriendly environment. So no one has been relocated as a result of the dam’s construction. The reservoir, too, will not affect anyone,” Azeb said.

“All the necessary environmental impact assessment study was conducted and mitigation measures have been incorporated in the study. The dam will play an important role in regulating the water flow in the downstream areas. The downstream areas are hit by either a drought or flood every year. The Gibe III dam will enable us to regulate the erratic water flow. The project is already bringing benefits to the local communities who are destitute. But it is sad to hear baseless accusations forwarded by some groups against the project.”

Azeb said the negative campaign waged against the project did not affect the physical work on the project as the Ethiopian government has been availing the necessary fund for the project. “The government has shown a strong commitment in financing the project. We do not have any problem settling payments.”:cheers:

UNESCO and members of civil society groups in Kenya have voiced concern over the construction of the dam. In fact, UNESCO last June requested the Ethiopian government to halt construction of the dam. The Ethiopian government turned down the request outright.

An official at the Ethiopian Ministry of Energy and Water Resources told The Reporter that there are some groups who want the native people to remain far away from civilisation. “It seems that there are interested groups who do not want Ethiopia to be self-sufficient in power production. And these groups want to keep going to the local community and take photos of their naked bodies. If this project comes to fruition the local communities will have access to civilisation and visiting those places might not be exciting for them any more.”



http://www.thereporterethiopia.com/News/salini-starts-filling-gibe-iii-dam.html
This is really a good news . I was following the news to hear this , since they start the foundation work last Augest everything was quite ,so I thought they got some difficulty or the damn environmentalist put some pressure or they got shortage of fund but looks like they doing their thing quitly .The good thing is now cement price plummeted to half the price it was last year and this dam is going take more than 4million tons it will be easy and cheaper to get it without affecting other projects.

"Gibe III Dam Emerges" (in English)

http://www.diretube.com/close-up/gibe-iii-dam-emerges-video_0f53c4a65.html

(God ETV is awful, 80s production)

"Gibe III Dam Emerges" (in English)

http://www.diretube.com/close-up/gibe-iii-dam-emerges-video_0f53c4a65.html

(God ETV is awful, 80s production)
NICE :banana: thanx yonii :cheers:
What is they are pouring though ?it doesn't look concrete .

Local cement need for Gibe III

Local cement factories have had samples taken to find out if their product can resist the moisture around the Gibe III dam.

The goal is to find suitable cement for the dam locally and not go for import.

Government owned Mugher Cement has begun work to produce a type of cement which is usually imported for the Roller Compact Concrete (RCC) dam.

20,000tns of imported Ordinary Portland (OPC) and Slag cement which is not affected by heat is being used for the foundation of the RCC dam.

According to Gosaye Mengistie Director of Energy Studies and Development Follow up at the Ministry of Water and Energy (MoWE), the placement of the Roller Compact Concrete (RCC) has recently begun after the excavation and clearing works were completed. The dam is expected to need up to 10,000tns of cement per month.

Gosaye also told Capital that the Gibe III 1,870 MWs Hydro electric power project which has already more than 48 percent of the work finished so far, and 60 percent of the project is expected to be completed during the current 2011/12 Ethiopian fiscal year.

The dam is expected to be one of the largest in Africa with a total height of 243 meters.
The civil construction work of the RCC dam and powerhouse is being handled by the Italian Construction SaliniCostruttori S.P.A, while the electromechanical and Hydraulics steel structure is being built by the Chinese firm Dongfang Electric International.

Inspection engineers from the Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPCO) and from the contractor Salini went to China to asses Turbine and Generators that going to be used for the dam.

The consultant company for the project is a French firm named Coyne et Bellier together with an Italian firm named Electro.

Explaining that the dam will not have an adverse effect, Gosaye said that Turkana lake is fluctuating by an average of 1.5 to 4 meters annually and its levels are dropping due to changes in climate.

Gosaye also said that the dam is going to prevent seasonal floods that used to ravage people downstream and around the lake.

He said seasonal fluctuation of the Omo River will be only 0.25 meters annually. Previously water levels rose up to four meters annually, he argued. Eight major studies have been done by local and international consultants and the adverse effects discovered were insignificant or non-existent he further said. The lake will also be a tourist attraction, a source of fish for the local community and help replace the 4.5 million tons of CO2 emission per year.

The Gibe III 1,870 MW hydro electric power project was signed in 2006 between the Ethiopian government and Salini Costruttori S.P.A. It has 10 generating units that can produce 1,870 MW. The project is located in Omo River Valley 400Km south of Addis Ababa.

It currently employs five thousand people with the workforce expected to increase eventually to six thousand.http://capitalethiopia.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=284:local-cement-need-for-gibe-iii-&catid=35:capital&Itemid=27

Gibe III hydropower project construction reached more than 50% completed :cheers:


Tuesday, 07 February 2012 14:53




Over half of Gibe III Hydropower Project, the second biggest in the nation next to the Renaissance Dam Project, work is completed. Over 4,500 workers are participating in the work of the project.



80 percent of the work is being carried out by Ethiopian professionals. The geographical location of the hydropower project is described as an ideal for the work by engineers in the sector. The Project lies on the border of Wolayita and Dawuro zones of the South Ethiopia State.


Ethiopia’s energy provision has now reached 2112mw and the demand of energy is increasing by 25 percent every year. The Gibe III Project will increase the nation’s provision of energy by 14 percent.


Manager of the Gibe III Hydropower Project, Azeb Asnake said the excavation work is fully completed and the concrete work has been begun.

Communication Director with the Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EPCO), Misikir Negash said Gibe III Project has a significant contribution in the effort underway to connect East Africa with infrastructure.


The Project is also playing a vital role in the transfer of knowledge and technology, he said.


The civil work of the project is carried out by Salini Construction while the electro mechanical work is being undertaken by a Chinese company. The consultancy work is being carried out by French, Italy and EPCO jointly.


Supervising engineer of the project, Philip Karonier said the construction of the project is being carried out according to the schedule.


Installation of transmission line that can carry 400kv is also in progress side by side with the main project.


Gibe III will have an installed capacity of 1870mw on completion. It will have 10 units with a capacity of 187mw each.


The firs unit of the Project is expected to be completed in September 2013. The project is being undertaken at a cost of 1.5 billion Euros.



http://www.ertagov.com/en/component/content/article/34-top1-news/927-gibe-iii-hydropower-project-completed-over-half.html

It seems like this project is reaching another percentage point every other day...:)

Al Jazeera report on Gibe III

http://www.aljazeera.com/video/africa/2012/03/20123128485291626.html

I have a feeling that Aljazeera has started a smear campaign against Ethiopian dam construction. this is not the only negative news they did about the Gibe dam,, I can imagen what the scale of reporting will be when the Abay dam is 50% completed .

Gibe III Ethiopia's controversial dam under construction. long but must read article from The Reporter.



Saturday, 28 April 2012 06:51 By KALEYESUS BEKELE

Nature has endowed Ethiopia with many rivers with a potential to generate 45,000 MW of electric power. The country also has the potential to generate 10,000 MW from wind energy and 5000 MW from its geothermal resources found in the Great East Africa Rift Valley. However, so far the country, with a population of 80 million, was able to generate a little over 2000 MW.

When the EPRDF-led government came to power in 1991, the country’s total generation capacity was only 400 MW.

The state-owned the Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPCo) is the sole utility company that generates and distributes electric power to the public. EEPCo’s Inter-Connected System (ICS) consists of 12 hydro, 13 diesel standbys and one geothermal power plant with total installed capacity of 1942.60 MW, 112.3 MW and 7.30 MW respectively.

According to EEPCo, the number of electrified towns and rural villages increased in the last five years of the strategic plan period and by July 2011 reached a total number of 5,866 which brought electric energy access to 46 percent.

Ethiopia’s GDP has been growing at a rate of eleven percent in the past few years. The increase in FDI and the flourishing manufacturing sector has boosted the demand for electric power. To meet the increasing demand the Ethiopian government is building a number of hydropower dams and wind turbines. The government’s plan is not only to satisfy the local demand but to export surplus power. Under the government’s five-year growth and transformation plan EEPCo anticipates to boost its generation capacity to 10,000 MW by 2015.

Accordingly, the corporation is constructing several hydropower and two wind farms. In 2009 the Tekeze hydropower dam with an installed capacity of 300 MW was inaugurated. In 2010 Gibe II and Beles with 420 MW and 460 MW were inaugurated. In December 2011 FinchaAmertiNeshe which has an istalled capacity of 100 MW joined the national grid. Gibe III with an installed capacity of 1,870 is under construction. In early 2011 EEPCo commenced work on the biggest hydro power dam in Africa on the Nile River. The hydro power plant dubbed “The Great Ethiopian Renaissance Dam” will have a generation capacity of 5250 MW. EEPCo is under preparation to launch two more projects on Gibe river called Gibe IV and V. It is also undertaking a feasibility study on two additional dams on the Nile. Two wind power projects are also under construction.

The Italian construction firm, Salini, finalised the construction of Gilgel Gibe with 184 MW generation capacity in 2004. While building Gibe II, Salini conducted a feasibility study on Gibe III with its own financial resource. Agreement for the construction of Gibe III was signed in July 2006 between EEPCo and Salini. Camp and access road construction on the site commenced in 2007.

The Gibe III hydor power dam is being constructed in the Southern Peoples Nation Nationalities and Peoples’ Regional State, 380 km south of Addis Ababa at a cost of 1.5 billion euros. It is 155 km away from Gibe II.

In an exclusive interview with The Reporter, Eng. Azeb Asnake, project manager of Gibe III, said that the contractor finalised the basement work (In December 2011) on the dam and started filling the dam with a special concrete called roller compacted concrete. “It is a dry mix concrete that is compacted by rollers. That is the kind of material we use to build the Gibe III dam,” Azeb said.

The dam, which is being built in the Omo Valley on Omo River with an elevation of 600 meters, will be 246m. high and has a width of 600m. Building the dam requires six million cubic meter of concrete. The basement of the dam is on average 25 meter deep below the river. The dam will have seven spillways and the water will flow to the powerhouse from the dam through two tunnels, each of which are 1.2 km long. The powerhouse is designed to house ten turbines.

Actual work on the project commenced in 2008 and the first unit was originally scheduled to be launched in September 2012. However, due to a change in the type of the dam this has been pushed to September 2013. First the dam was planned to be a rock fill dam which was later changed into a roller compact dam.

The dam will have the capacity to hold 14 billion cu.m of water. The artificial lake will cover 200 sq.km of land. Salini is undertaking the civil work while a Chinese firm, Dong Fang, is doing the electro-mechanical and hydro-mechanical work. “We have a Joint Consultant composed of ELC-Electroconsult of Italy and Coyne et Bellier of France. The diameter of the two tunnels is 12 meters and the amount of water they can discharge varies on the number of units working at a time. However, it can range from 100 cu.m./sec for one unit to 1000 cu.m./sec for all the units,” said Azeb.

According to Azeb, the total cost of the project is estimated at 1.5 billion euros and the Ethiopian government has so far invested 600 million euros in the roject from its own coffers. The government has secured 470 million dollars from the Chinese state bank.

Azeb said that work on the project is going according to schedule, adding that 90 percent of the excavation work on the tunnels was finalised. The power-house is also under construction. According to the manager, the project has created jobs for more than 3,000 Ethiopians. Some 300 expatriates are working on the project. The number of employees reach 5000 during peak season.

“Roads with a total length of 150km. have been built, a high school and health posts have been constructed. The local communities are benefiting from the hydro-power project. The local people have been employed in the project. And the local communities sell fruits and vegetables to the large number of people working on the project.”

The new Gibe III dam is expected to produce 6500 GWH of energy a year, and surplus energy is expected to create 300 million euros in revenue, according to EEPCo.

In September 2011, EEPCo inaugurated a power transmission line to Djibouti and started selling 35 MW to the tiny Red Sea state that has been fully dependent on thermal energy. In December 2011, Ethiopia agreed to export 400 MW to neighboring Kenya. EEPCo is constructing a transmission line to Sudan. In addition to Djibouti, Kenya and Sudan, the corporation hopes to export power to Egypt and Yemen in the long run. The corporation says it will have surplus power when Gibe III is launched in 2013 and plans to start selling power to Kenya by then.

However, the construction of Gibe III has not been smooth. From the beginning the project instigated a furious protest from environmentalists. The activists fear that the project will impact the bio-diversity in the environs and evict the local residents. They also argue that the dam will affect the livelihood of the population downstream of the Omo valley by reducing the water flow. The Omo river flows into Lake Turkana in neighboring Kenya. Friends of Turkana, an activist group based in Kenya, claims that the water level of Lake Turkana is already dwindling at an alarming rate due to the construction of Gibe III dam and the aquatic life have perished there by affecting the livelihoods of a huge population that make their daily bread by fishing.

Azeb dismisses the accusations made by environmentalists against the project. “The local population has not been displaced due to the dam construction. The place where the dam is built has an elevation of 600 meter. It is a very hot place infested by malaria and people prefer to live on the mountains of this unfriendly environment for human beings. So there is no one who has been relocated as the result of the dam construction. The reservoir, too, will not affect anyone,” Azeb said.

“All the necessary environmental impact assessment study was conducted and mitigation measures are encompassed in the study. The dam will play important role in regulating the water flow in the downstream areas. The downstream areas are hit by either drought or flood every year. The Gibe III dam will enable us to regulate the erratic water flow. The project is already bringing benefits to the local communities who are destitute. But it is sad to hear baseless accusations forwarded by some groups against the project.”

According to her, two Italian (Chasy and Agri Consult) and one Ethiopian (Mid Day International) consulting firms conducted the environmental impact assessment studies well before the commencement of the project. “The European Investment Bank, the African Development Bank, and the World Bank have hired independent consultants that evaluated EEPCo’simpact assessment study. All of them have confirmed that it was a sound study that has commendable mitigation recommendations.”

However, activists have continued expressing their concern. A report by International Rivers, an environmental and human rights organisation based in California, says the practice of flood retreat cultivation is central to the lives of people along the Omo River.The report says families plant riverbank plots as the floods begin to retreat; harvesting takes place a few months later. The silt-laden floodwaters mean additional fertilisers are not needed.

International Rivers says the size of cultivated areas can vary year to year depending on the height of the flood, but the reliability of the harvest makes it a fundamental practice for the region's food security.

An Ethiopian environmentalist shares International Rivers view. The environmentalist who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue said environmental degradation caused by deforestation as the result of the dam construction are not addressed properly. “The government is reluctant to engage itself in dialogue on environmental impacts,” he lamented.

Azeb challenges the accusations. According to her, the project has arranged to discharge a 50 cubic metre per second minimum standard ecological flow, 10 days of free discharge in September, added to nine other streams which are already there and can maintain downstream ecology during water harvesting phase.

EEPCo sees another benefit of the project in regulating the flow of the river, which floods annually, and thereby making it navigable all year. The resulting reservoir of approximately 200 sq. km. would be used as a fishery, according to an environmental and social impact assessment by EEPCo.

Azeb said the water level of Lake Turkana is dwindling not because of Gibe III. “The water level has been going down even before we commenced construction. We did not start holding the water. Even after we start holding water we will need maybe one rainy season to fill the dam. After that we will release the water to the turbines. After it runs the turbines, it will flow back to the river’s natural course. So even after we build the dam the water flow will not be reduced. We do not have an irrigation project on Gibe III,” she said. “The water level of Lake Turkana has been going down due to climate change. It has got nothing to do with Gibe III.” She stated that ten percent of the lake was inside Ethiopian territory but the water has transgressed and currently there is no sign of the lake in Ethiopia’s territory.

UNESCO and members of the civil society groups in Kenya have voiced their concerns over the construction of the dam. In fact, UNESCO requested the Ethiopian government to halt constructing the dam.

UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee first raised its apparent concern about the construction of the Gibe III Dam and the possible impacts on Lake Turkana, a World Heritage Site, at a meeting held in June 2011. It warned that the Gibe III Dam was likely to significantly alter Lake Turkana’s fragile hydrological regime, and would threaten its aquatic species and associated biological systems. The Committee urged Ethiopia to immediately halt all construction on the project and called for all financial institutions supporting the Gibe III dam to put their financial support on hold until the Committee reviewed the issue in 2012. In a letter to the Ethiopian and Chinese governments, the Committee referred to Lake Turkana as an outstanding research area for animal and plant communities, and notes that the area’s rich fossil finds have allowed “reconstructing the history of animal species and mankind over the past 2 million years”.

The Ethiopian government turned down the request made by UNESCO outright. “The positive impact on the ground, which is revealed by the socialand environmental impact studies, should be judged against differentexternalities that can result from the construction of the dam,”says Miheret Debebe, CEO of EEPCo.

In explaining how the issue might not be related to Kenya, Miheret responded that Ethiopia has extensive institutional, professional and governmental forums with Kenya to discuss different issues concerning the dam project.

Mihret pointed to what he called other entities outside Kenya who are behind the campaign against the dam, which refuse to give up their fervour against the construction of the dam, he claimed.

He asserted that Ethiopia will continue to build the dam despite different accusations.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi responded to similar accusations by various environmental lobbyists such as Survival International and many others contending "They don't want to see a developed Africa; they want us to remain undeveloped and backward to serve their tourists as a museum," the prime minister argued.

Alemayehu Tegenu, Ethiopian Minister of Water and Energy, said the government is well aware of environmental concerns. “We do give due attention to the environment as it will eventually affect us. We conducted thorough environmental and social impact assessment studies in each project we undertake,” he said. However, he said, there were some groups who wanted the native people to remain far away from civilisation. “It seems that there are interested groups who do not want Ethiopia to be self-sufficient in power production. And these groups want to keep going to the local community and take photos of their naked bodies. If this project comes to fruition the local communities will have access to civilisation and visiting those places might not be exciting for them.”

The minister said work on the project is on schedule for completion in 2013.
Despite the controversy the Kenyan government has decided to buy electric power from Ethiopia. The Kenyan government officials who visited the dam construction seem comfortable with the project.

Kenyan Ambassador to Ethiopia Dr. Monica Juma, said: “The issue of Turkana is much greater than the Omo River. It has to do with the ecology, climate change, land use and volumes of water as well as rain and so forth. Besides, Omo is not the only water resource that feeds Lake Turkana.”

The Ambassador, who visited the project last October, said that Lake Turkana is not only Kenyan affair but is also an Ethiopian issue. “Given the ecology, it is important for us to understand what really is making the Lake Turkana shrink and the question is what we should do in order to reconstitute the lake,” Dr. Juma said.

She said: “This is one of the regions both in the southern Ethiopia and northern Kenya that is least developed and very fragile. The debate has to be on what we must do with this region that has been impacted so negatively by a range of factors,” she said.

“We need to respond to the need of our people. We have to find the way of catapulting this area into modern face of development. The people in the Omo basin and Lake Turkana deserve good value of life, development and we have the obligation to cooperate in the way that provides improved living standards of these areas, the Ambassador said.

According to the ambassador, the region is where foreign tourists are coming in frequently and some people want to retain some of these places to make documentation to show the way of life people lead as others lived many centuries ago. “I think, we have to deal with this.”

“The ambassador said it is impossible to undertake irrigation on that river because of the area’s topography. She said that hydroelectric projects also by their nature do not affect the flow of water.

The ambassador said: “Kenya eyes the development and the degree of transferability of this project because we are also quite interested in the development of clean energy and hydroelectric power. Gibe III project has greater significance to Kenya as it is one of the world’s source of energy.”

Ambassador Juma expressed conviction the two countries will design mutually acceptable frameworks to address bigger challenges than the issue of Gibe III.

Nonetheless, the campaigns waged by activists seem to have impacted funding to the project. International lenders such as the African Development Bank (AfDB), the European Investment Bank (EIB) and JP Morgan, who have shown interest in financing the project, did not make any commitment.

Azeb says the financial institutions didn’t enter into agreement because of their own working procedures. “JP Morgan suspended the loan evaluation due to the global financial crisis unfolding since 2008. It got nothing to do with the negatives campaign,” Azeb said.“AfDB and EIB take prolonged time to approve the loan. They have been sending mission after mission and they have asked for numerous data and we have submitted all of the documents. To be frank we were fed up with dealing with their missions and presenting the long list of documents they demand now and then.”

She went on to say that these institutions usually need an extended time period to evaluate loan requests. “None of them rejected the loan proposal. It is our government which was worn down by the long process and turned its face to other potential financiers (China),” Azeb said.

Azeb said the negative campaign waged against the project did not affect the physical work on the project as the Ethiopian government has been availing funds for the project. “The government has shown a strong commitment in financing the project. We do not have any problem in settling payments.”

Indeed the Ethiopian government seems determined to finance the dam construction. Ethiopia’s tremendous economic growth is marred by spiral inflation rate as high as 40 percent and the Prime Minister Mele’s administration has been advised by donors to reduce the state’s huge investments in the economy to curb the biting inflation rate that began in the wake of the 2005 national elections. Executives of the IMF have repeatedly warned the government to slow down its massive investments on infrastructure development projects, which the government declined to heed. Meles has no problem in switching to other financiers whenever the western financial institutions are reluctant to finance certain projects, usually to the Chinese government which is known for not tagging challenging preconditions to loans.

Alemayhu said that his government is looking for additional funding for Gibe III, adding that it (the government) will finance the project on its own up to the final stage if it fails to secure additional loan.



http://www.thereporterethiopia.com/In-Depth/gibeiii-ethiopias-controversial-dam-under-construction.html

Well said Meles. They never want to see African countries progressing.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi responded to similar accusations by various environmental lobbyists such as Survival International and many others contending "They don't want to see a developed Africa; they want us to remain undeveloped and backward to serve their tourists as a museum," the prime minister argued.

The short guy hits the nail on the head, I must say.

great stuff!

i'm going to be buying bonds soon.

Gibe III power plant construction reached 55 percent :banana::cheers:


Danielberhane's Blog


Gibe III dam to be operational next year; World Bank ponders credit

Posted by Daniel Berhane on Thursday, May 24, 2012 @ 3:00 am · 1 Comment

Ethiopia’s Gibe III Hydropower dam will be operational by mid-2013.

The Gibe III dam project, with about 1,870 MW installed power generation capacity, located in southern Ethiopia, is the biggest undertaking in the nation, second to the 6000 MW Grand Ethiopian Renaissance hydropower project.

The Gibe III dam project is now 55% complete, including the construction of power station, hydro-mechanical and electro-mechanical works, according to a statement from an official of the Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation statement on a local radio. Construction of transmission lines connecting the Gibe III Hydropower to the national power grid is commencing, he added.

The first unit, with 187 MW power, is expected to become operational by mid-2013. Professionals from 120 countries as well as 6,000 locals are taking part in the project, according to the official.

The total cost of the project is estimated at 1.5 billion Euro.

The first 40% of the project’s work was financed solely from Ethiopian treasury.

Since then, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China came on board with a 470 million loan.

Now, the World Bank is apparently to extend a 684 million US dollars loan for the construction of transmission lines to Kenya.
The anti-Gibe III dam activist organization, International rivers, claimed on Tuesday, in an article titled ‘World Bank to Fund Gibe III Dam through the Backdoor?’, that:

The World Bank would like to turn Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of Congo into regional hydropower “batteries” that can electrify large parts of Africa. Doing so would require the construction of large dam cascades and extensive transmission networks in Eastern and Central Africa. The record of dam building in Ethiopia and the Congo is such that the World Bank is not keen to get involved with these messy projects directly. Instead it plans to pour large amounts of foreign aid into the transmission lines on which the power projects depend.

On June 21, the World Bank is expected to submit to its Board of Directors a credit of $684 million for a 1,000-kilometer-long transmission line from Ethiopia to Kenya. Strong evidence links this transmission line to the Gibe III Dam. The Resettlement Action Plan, an official project document, states that the line “is planned to provide reliable power supply to Kenya by taking it from Ethiopia’s Gilgel Gibe hydropower scheme.”

In a letter to Friends of Lake Turkana, an environmental group, the Bank confirmed in March 2010 that the Ethiopian government had “asked the World Bank to consider providing funding support to the Gibe III hydropower project and the associated transmission lines.”

Now that the impacts of the Gibe III Dam have become so publicly apparent, the Bank no longer wants to be associated with it. In a meeting last month with environmental organizations, Bank managers claimed that the transmission line would not be used to export electricity from the mega-dam on the Omo River. The Bank even edited the Resettlement Action Plan and replaced the reference to Gibe by “from Ethiopia’s power grid” in its version of the document.

Transmission lines and power projects depend on each other. If transmission lines become a focus of the World Bank’s development aid for Africa, the institution needs to clarify where the electricity for these projects will come from.

Indeed, any finance to the transmission of electricity from Ethiopia to Kenya would be financing the dam. As the bulk of the power to be generated by the Gibe III dam is earmarked for export to Kenya. Moreover, Ethiopia is inter-connecting its national power grid and unlikely to halt that for a couple of millions from the World Bank.

Perhaps, this indicates the Bank is sandwiched between western anti-dam groups and the fact that the West has no longer financial monopoly with the advent of Chinese investment. Not to mention, the need to stay relevant by taking part in this landmark regional project which will be completed anyways.

In a related development, an American organization awarded anti-Gibe dam activist Ikal Angelei, last month. Angelei is founder of the anti-Gibe III dam group, Friends of Lake Turkana, which is allegedly a satellite of International Rivers. In an interview with a media, after the award, Angelei had this to say:

Q: You think of this project as a human rights abuse as well as an environmental abuse?

Angelei: Yes, I think it is a human rights abuse and an environmental abuse.You cannot say “development” is telling people that your way of life doesn’t work anymore. People have to develop in the way they see fit. If I don’t want to drive, it doesn’t mean I’m not developed. It means I am living my life in the way I see fit, as long as I am able to achieve my spiritual and basic needs.

The naivety in Angelei’s statement is a reminder of the Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s remarks during in his speech at the Hydropower conference on March 2011. He characterized the anti-dam groups ‘based and financed from Europe and North America US and Europe’ and campaigning against Ethiopia’s Hydro-electric dam projects as ‘hydropower extremists’ and snubbed their position as ‘not only irrational but also bordering on the criminal’. He said:

In the words of President Museveni these people are concerned that butterflies will be disturbed by such projects and they will not allow the disturbance of butterflies even if this means millions of people have to be subjected to the deadliest killer diseases of all, poverty, in order not to disturb the butterflies……..

Their holier than though attitude is all the more ironic because these groups who have done virtually nothing to stop their countries from building all the dams they can build while at the same time single handedly subjecting our planet to the threat of catastrophe because of global warming are trying to stop projects in poor countries such as Ethiopia that are infinitely more environmentally and socially responsible than the projects in their countries, past and present. I am not a believer in conspiracy theories but if I were I would conclude that these people want Africa to remain as it currently is with all its misery and poverty so that they can come and visit nature in its pristine state in the winter every so often. Beyond conspiracy theories I believe the position taken by such groups is not only irrational but also bordering on the criminal.

A related news on yesterday indicated that Ethiopia’s electric power generation capacity has reached 2,140 MW.

Chief Executive Officer the Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation told a local newspaper that the power generation capacity of the nation has reached 2,140MW from only 370MW 21 years back. He also said that the national electricity coverage has grown to 47 per cent from only eight per cent in 1991.

According to the CEO, the per capita energy consumption at that time was below 20KW at household level but currently it is 100KW. He further pointed out that to date 6000 towns and rural areas have been electrified. This figure was 320 in the year 1991. The CEO indicated that the national power coverage is planned to reach 75 percent by the 2015.

******************


http://danielberhane.wordpress.com/2012/05/24/gibe-iii-dam-to-be-operational-next-year-world-bank-ponders-credit/

Meles and Museveni put it so well....these people are unbelievable...protesting each and every power project that any African countries, especially Ethiopia undertakes.

Why don't environmentalists picket their own countries. Another enemy of progress in
Africa.

Gibe III taking shape :banana::banana::banana:


Ud2tmyBvq0c&feature=player_embedded

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ud2tmyBvq0c&feature=player_embedded

^^ Thanks. I like that theme music.

http://i.imgur.com/NThB7.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/ow2Er.jpg

HD video of construction

rJGme5qIKNw&feature=g-all

^^Huge project, nice to see the progress.

Great quality on the video btw, Ben should lend his camera to the embarrassing ETV.

We are going to have lots of new lakes!!

[QUOTE=qweads;97871804]HD video of construction

The sight of silt laden Gibe River (6:40 - 7:00) should concern the authorities. Silt deposition significantly affects the life of reservoirs. And unless sediment control measures (watershed management, soil conservation...) are taken early on the dam could face problems down the road.

The Gibe III power generation area construction :cheers:

http://www.eepco.gov.et/gallery-images/CAL-10.gif

http://www.eepco.gov.et/gallery-images/Picture-046.gif

http://www.eepco.gov.et/gallery-images/Picture-058.gif

http://www.eepco.gov.et/gallery-images/Picture-065.gif

The main dam taking shape :banana:

http://www.eepco.gov.et/gallery-images/CAL-14.gif

http://www.eepco.gov.et/gallery-images/Picture-032.gif

http://www.eepco.gov.et/gallery-images/Picture-039.gif

www.eepco.gov.et/gallery.php

Nice pics abnet!

These projects are massive, I like that the agency is keeping us updated.

The massive Gibe III dam taking shape :banana: they will start filling the lake behind the dam next May .


http://www.eepco.gov.et/gallery-images/IMG_4589.gif

http://www.eepco.gov.et/gallery-images/IMG_4608.gif

http://www.eepco.gov.et/gallery-images/IMG_4627.gif

The power house also coming up looking good :cheers:

http://www.eepco.gov.et/gallery-images/IMG_4630.gif

http://www.eepco.gov.et/gallery-images/IMG_4635.gif

source http://www.eepco.gov.et/gallery.php

Just beautiful!

Gibe III aerial as of sep 2012
http://www.pietrangeli.it/images/contMedia/hydropower/GibeIII,settembre%202012.jpg

Very nice find Teklu ! thanks a lot :cheers:

That dam is really massive :banana:

What is the purpose of those two holes they are digging on left side of the dam just south of the concrete mixer?

Transmission line for Gibe III to be ready within a month :cheers:



Energy project set to be Ethiopia’s second largest source of hydro-electric power, after Grand Renaissance Dam


The installation of high-voltage 400kV electric transmission lines which will help connect the power generated from Gilgel Gibe III to the national grid, will be completed by April 8, 2013, Fortune learnt.

The Chinese Export-Import (EXIM) bank has contributed 96.7 million dollars, whilst the Ethiopian government is spending 257.5 million Br, for the construction of the transmission lines.

The Gilgel Gibe III hydropower project began in 2006 with the aim of generating 1,870Mw of energy. This will be the second largest source of hydro-electric energy for the country, next to the Grand Renaissance Dam, which will generate 6,000Mw, when complete. Gilgel Gibe III will contribute toEthiopia’s power generation capacity, which the government hopes to raise to 10,000Mw, from the current 2,000Mw, during the Growth & Transformation Plan (GTP) period, from 2010/11 to 2014/15.

The project is located in the lower course of the Omo River, in Wolayta and Dawro zones of the Southern region, 470Km South West of Addis Abeba. Aside from having a roller compacted dam, the project will also have three distribution stations. The transmission power lines will be completed within a month.

The construction of the transmission lines, which will carry electricity from the distributing stations, will be conducted in two lots, according to Meseker Negash, head of corporate communications at the EEPCo.

One of the lots includes the construction of a 293Km transmission line, starting from Wolayta Sodo and running to Sebeta, via Akaki. The construction of this line will cost a total of 70.8 million dollars and an additional 140.5 million Br from the government.

In the other lot, a 50.3Km and 51Km double circuit line from Gibe III to the Wolayta Sodo distribution station, will be constructed. The cost of this second line is 25.9 million in dollars, and an additional 17.2 million Br contribution from the government.

A Chinese company has been contracted for the construction of the transmission lines.

“So far 89pc of the work is done for the transmission lines and the rest will be finished within a month,” Meseker told Fortune. “Since we planned to complete the construction of the transmission lines in 18 months, we are on track.”

Though construction is completed, the transmission lines will not be functional until power is generated from the dam. The dam is to have 10 units, each producing 187Mw of power. EEPCo expects to finish the construction of one of the units by September or October this year, according to Meseker. The power generated can then be added to the National Grid through the transmission lines.

The completion of the distribution stations is also necessary, according to Meseker. There will be two new distribution stations, in Wolayta Sodo and Akaki, and an expansion project on an old distribution station in Sebeta, which cost 88.5 million dollars and 198.3 million Br in contributions from the government. Shanghai Electric Group is the contractor for the construction of the distribution stations.

Of the total power generated from Gilgel Gibe III, 900Mw will be exported to foreign countries, such as;Kenya,Sudanand Djbouti.Kenyawill get 500Mw, the largest amount of exported power.

The EEPCo had previously announced that 69pc of the dam construction has been completed.
By ELLENI ARAYA
FORTUNE STAFF WRITER
Published on March 3, 2013 [ Vol 13 ,No 670]


http://addisfortune.net/articles/transmission-lines-for-gilgel-gibe-iii-to-be-ready-within-a-month/

What is the purpose of those two holes they are digging on left side of the dam just south of the concrete mixer?
I was going to say vent shafts ... but they're huge. No idea ...

What is the purpose of those two holes they are digging on left side of the dam just south of the concrete mixer?

The holes you are asking for are surge shafts of a depth of about 80m.
Their role is to equalize hydrostatic pressure oscillations.
The two other holes are visible in the upper part of the image
By the way, I believe this picture was taken in June 2012 (not in August)

The holes you are asking for are surge shafts of a depth of about 80m.
Their role is to equalize hydrostatic pressure oscillations.
The two other holes are visible in the upper part of the image
By the way, I believe this picture was taken in June 2012 (not in August)


It is highly unusual to locate surge shafts/tanks u/s of the dam axis as these two are... these two shafts are most likely associated with the dam/reservoir intake facilities ...

The upper part of the picture (other two holes) is probably where the only surge shafts for Gibe 3 would be located ... much closer to the u/c power house ...

Thank you DK and rasta55 :cheers:
Now only if we can get recent pictures :) I heard on the news the dam height passed 60 meters ,It will be interesting to look at it :D

u6ULo2Kl-Wo

Im so proad of all hard working men and women. In 10-20 years we will have obunden experts in this field cross over borders and help the rest af africa get more energi. Wen one grow then next will fallow.

Im so proad of all hard working men and women. In 10-20 years we will have obunden experts in this field cross over borders and help the rest af africa get more energi. Wen one grow then next will fallow.

Agreed.

One can only hope they don't try to permanently leave the country while taking their talents and knowledge with them to leave a mediocre life in the west.

gibe iii updated pic (two months old ) i didn't know that it is the tallest RCC dam in the world .:cheers:
http://i1301.photobucket.com/albums/ag106/addis901/gibe_feb13_4_zps7095a47f.jpg (http://s1301.photobucket.com/user/addis901/media/gibe_feb13_4_zps7095a47f.jpg.html)

http://i1301.photobucket.com/albums/ag106/addis901/gibe_feb13_3_zpsecabe1e7.jpg (http://s1301.photobucket.com/user/addis901/media/gibe_feb13_3_zpsecabe1e7.jpg.html)

http://i1301.photobucket.com/albums/ag106/addis901/gibe_feb13_2_zpsb42b1cd2.jpg (http://s1301.photobucket.com/user/addis901/media/gibe_feb13_2_zpsb42b1cd2.jpg.html)

http://i1301.photobucket.com/albums/ag106/addis901/gibe_feb13_1_zps8c194a1d.jpg (http://s1301.photobucket.com/user/addis901/media/gibe_feb13_1_zps8c194a1d.jpg.html)

Progressing nicely! It's one huge dam ...