{
 "compiled": "2026-10-29",
 "about": "The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam: a hand-kept register for BuildMap's GERD deep dive. Every figure carries the URL it was read from. Where sources disagree the lead figure is the first-hand or engineering source and the others are in the note. Edit by hand; never regenerate.",
 "facts": [
  {
   "id": "installed_mw",
   "label": "Installed capacity",
   "value": 5150,
   "unit": "MW",
   "source": "Webuild Value",
   "url": "https://www.webuildvalue.com/en/infrastructure/gerd-hydroelectric-plant.html",
   "note": "13 Francis units in two powerhouses: 11 of 400 MW and 2 of 375 MW (POWER Magazine). Planned at 5,250 MW in 2011, raised to 6,000 and 6,450 MW, cut to 5,150 MW in 2019 by dropping three units."
  },
  {
   "id": "annual_gwh",
   "label": "Design output",
   "value": 15760,
   "unit": "GWh a year",
   "source": "ENA (Abdu Yibre, GERD Electromechanical Supervisor)",
   "url": "https://www.ena.et/en/?p=10745",
   "note": "As Ethiopia's GERD office gave it in 2019 (ENA); the contractor and consultants say 15,700 GWh."
  },
  {
   "id": "height_m",
   "label": "Main dam",
   "value": "145 m high, 1,780 m long",
   "unit": "",
   "source": "ASCE Civil Engineering magazine (Melesse & Gebriel)",
   "url": "https://www.asce.org/publications-and-news/civil-engineering-source/civil-engineering-magazine/issues/magazine-issue/article/2025/07/giant-ethiopian-dam-promises-greater-flood-control-and-water-management",
   "note": "Roller-compacted concrete, 10.7 million m³ of it (Webuild). The contractor says 170 m and the 2017 design paper 175 m at its deepest; no source explains the gap."
  },
  {
   "id": "saddle",
   "label": "Saddle dam",
   "value": "5 km long, 50 m high",
   "unit": "",
   "source": "ASCE Civil Engineering magazine",
   "url": "https://www.asce.org/publications-and-news/civil-engineering-source/civil-engineering-magazine/issues/magazine-issue/article/2025/07/giant-ethiopian-dam-promises-greater-flood-control-and-water-management",
   "note": "Concrete-faced rockfill closing a low point in the rim, south-west of the main dam. Tractebel gives 5.2 km and 45 m, the design paper 60 m."
  },
  {
   "id": "storage_bcm",
   "label": "Storage",
   "value": 74,
   "unit": "billion m³",
   "source": "ASCE Civil Engineering magazine",
   "url": "https://www.asce.org/publications-and-news/civil-engineering-source/civil-engineering-magazine/issues/magazine-issue/article/2025/07/giant-ethiopian-dam-promises-greater-flood-control-and-water-management",
   "note": "At full supply level; 65 billion m³ usable above dead storage (ELC Electroconsult, the employer's representative). An Egyptian geologist, Abbas Sharaky, argues the usable maximum is 64 billion m³."
  },
  {
   "id": "full_supply_level_m",
   "label": "Full supply level",
   "value": 640,
   "unit": "m above sea level",
   "source": "ASCE Civil Engineering magazine",
   "url": "https://www.asce.org/publications-and-news/civil-engineering-source/civil-engineering-magazine/issues/magazine-issue/article/2025/07/giant-ethiopian-dam-promises-greater-flood-control-and-water-management",
   "note": "ELC Electroconsult says 643 m 'when full'."
  },
  {
   "id": "reservoir_area_km2",
   "label": "Lake area at full supply",
   "value": 1874,
   "unit": "km²",
   "source": "ASCE Civil Engineering magazine",
   "url": "https://www.asce.org/publications-and-news/civil-engineering-source/civil-engineering-magazine/issues/magazine-issue/article/2025/07/giant-ethiopian-dam-promises-greater-flood-control-and-water-management",
   "note": "1,875 km² by Webuild; 1,904 km² in a 2024 satellite study (PNAS Nexus). OpenStreetMap's outline, drawn on this page, covers about 1,680 km²."
  },
  {
   "id": "reservoir_length_km",
   "label": "Lake length",
   "value": 172,
   "unit": "km",
   "source": "Webuild press release",
   "url": "https://www.webuildgroup.com/en/media/press-releases/grand-ethopian-renaissance-dam-gerd-inaugurated/",
   "note": "Along the river, by the contractor's count; an uncited figure of 246 km also circulates."
  },
  {
   "id": "lake_name",
   "label": "The lake",
   "value": "Nigat Lake (Lake of Dawn)",
   "unit": "",
   "source": "ENA (Abiy Ahmed inauguration address)",
   "url": "https://www.ena.et/web/eng/w/eng_7302737",
   "note": "Named at the inauguration, 9 September 2025 (ENA)."
  },
  {
   "id": "location",
   "label": "Where",
   "value": "Guba, Benishangul-Gumuz, about 700 km north-west of Addis Ababa",
   "unit": "",
   "source": "Webuild project page",
   "url": "https://webuildgroup.com/en/projects/dams-hydroelectric-plants/grand-ethiopian-renaissance-dam-project",
   "note": "About 14 km from the Sudanese border by Webuild's count, 15 km by the designer's; others say 20 to 45 km. Natural Earth's border lies 12 km from the dam in a straight line."
  },
  {
   "id": "spillway",
   "label": "Spillways",
   "value": "14,500 m³ a second, gated",
   "unit": "",
   "source": "ASCE Civil Engineering magazine",
   "url": "https://www.asce.org/publications-and-news/civil-engineering-source/civil-engineering-magazine/issues/magazine-issue/article/2025/07/giant-ethiopian-dam-promises-greater-flood-control-and-water-management",
   "note": "Six gates; plus an ungated overflow spillway of 2,800 m³/s and two bottom outlets of 830 m³/s (ASCE)."
  },
  {
   "id": "who",
   "label": "Who built it",
   "value": "Ethiopian Electric Power, owner; Webuild (then Salini Impregilo), civil works",
   "unit": "",
   "source": "POWER Magazine; Tractebel; Pietrangeli 2017",
   "url": "https://www.powermag.com/gerd-how-ethiopias-blue-nile-vision-became-africas-largest-hydropower-plant/",
   "note": "Studio Pietrangeli designed it; Tractebel and ELC Electroconsult were the employer's representative; Voith Hydro supplied most of the turbines; China Gezhouba took over electromechanical works in 2019 after the state-run METEC was removed (POWER Magazine)."
  },
  {
   "id": "workforce",
   "label": "Workforce",
   "value": "over 25,000 people",
   "unit": "",
   "source": "Webuild press release",
   "url": "https://www.webuildgroup.com/en/media/press-releases/grand-ethopian-renaissance-dam-gerd-inaugurated/",
   "note": "Over the project's life (Webuild)."
  },
  {
   "id": "share_of_output",
   "label": "Share of Ethiopia's utility output",
   "value": "51.5% of 35,670 GWh",
   "unit": "",
   "source": "Ecofin Agency (EEP, Ephrem Woldekidan)",
   "url": "https://www.ecofinagency.com/news-industry/3107-57883-ethiopia-s-renaissance-dam-leads-state-power-output-with-51-5-share",
   "note": "Ethiopian Electric Power's fiscal year 2025/26 (July to July), about 18,400 GWh from GERD (derived): above its design average, as the full lake was drawn down."
  }
 ],
 "filling": [
  {
   "year": 2020,
   "label": "First filling",
   "date": "2020-07-21",
   "added_bcm": 4.9,
   "cumulative_bcm": 4.9,
   "level_m": 560,
   "level_date": "2020-07-21",
   "level_said": "the central block's height, over which the lake spilled (ASCE)",
   "sat_bcm": "3.8–4.3",
   "said_by": "Office of the Prime Minister: first-year target reached",
   "source": "AFP via TerraDaily",
   "url": "https://terradaily.com/ethiopia-says-first-year-of-nile-mega-dam-filling-achieved-999/",
   "note": "Ethiopia's embassy in Brussels later said 4.5 bcm; Sudan said 5. Satellite studies: 3.82 bcm (Landsat, HESS 2023) and 4.3 bcm (PNAS Nexus 2024)."
  },
  {
   "year": 2021,
   "label": "Second filling",
   "date": "2021-07-19",
   "added_bcm": 13.5,
   "cumulative_bcm": 18.5,
   "level_m": 575,
   "level_date": "2021-07-19",
   "level_said": "the central block's height (ASCE)",
   "sat_bcm": "8.8–9.3",
   "said_by": "Water minister Seleshi Bekele: second filling complete",
   "source": "2Merkato",
   "url": "https://www.2merkato.com/news/alerts/6221-ethiopian-announces-second-filling-of-gerd-complete",
   "note": "13.5 bcm was the year's target; Reuters reported the minister gave no volume. The 18.5 bcm held is Anadolu's sum of the two targets. ASCE says about 10 bcm in all; satellite studies 8.76 bcm (HESS 2023) and 9.3 bcm (PNAS Nexus 2024)."
  },
  {
   "year": 2022,
   "label": "Third filling",
   "date": "2022-08-12",
   "added_bcm": null,
   "cumulative_bcm": 22,
   "level_m": 600,
   "level_date": "2022-08-12",
   "level_said": "Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed",
   "sat_bcm": "23.1–26.8",
   "said_by": "Abiy Ahmed: 600 m reached, 25 m above the last filling",
   "source": "AFP via Phys.org",
   "url": "https://phys.org/news/2022-08-ethiopia-mega-dam-reservoir.html",
   "note": "22 bcm is AFP's figure; ASCE says about 25. Satellite studies: 23.1 bcm (HESS 2023), 26.8 bcm (PNAS Nexus 2024)."
  },
  {
   "year": 2023,
   "label": "Fourth filling",
   "date": "2023-09-10",
   "added_bcm": null,
   "cumulative_bcm": 42,
   "level_m": 620,
   "level_date": "2023-09-10",
   "level_said": "the central block's height (ASCE); others say 625 m",
   "sat_bcm": null,
   "said_by": "Abiy Ahmed: 'fourth and final' filling complete; no volume given",
   "source": "AFP via VOA",
   "url": "https://www.voanews.com/a/ethiopia-completes-filling-of-nile-renaissance-mega-dam/7261828.html",
   "note": "About 42 bcm and 620 m per ASCE; 41 bcm per Sharaky; 625 m per POWER Magazine and Anadolu. A fifth filling followed in 2024."
  },
  {
   "year": 2024,
   "label": "Fifth filling",
   "date": "2024-08-28",
   "added_bcm": null,
   "cumulative_bcm": 60,
   "level_m": 640,
   "level_date": "2024-12-15",
   "level_said": "full supply level reached in December 2024 (ASCE)",
   "sat_bcm": null,
   "said_by": "GERD office: the project moves from construction to operation",
   "source": "AFP via Arab News",
   "url": "https://www.arabnews.com/node/2569230/world",
   "note": "No Ethiopian volume. 60 bcm and 638 m on 5 September 2024 per Sharaky; ASCE says the lake stood at 636 m in July 2024 and reached 640 m in December, when the concrete was finished."
  }
 ],
 "units": [
  {
   "date": "2022-02-20",
   "event": "First unit (Unit 10, 375 MW) starts generating; Abiy inaugurates power generation",
   "mw": 375,
   "mw_online": 375,
   "source": "Ethiopian Embassy Belgium",
   "url": "https://ethiopianembassy.be/?p=18974"
  },
  {
   "date": "2022-08-11",
   "event": "Second unit (Unit 9, 375 MW) starts generating",
   "mw": 375,
   "mw_online": 750,
   "source": "Fana Media Corporation",
   "url": "https://www.fanamc.com/english/?p=33629"
  },
  {
   "date": "2024-08-24",
   "event": "Third and fourth units (400 MW each; Units 7 and 8) start commercial operation",
   "mw": 400,
   "mw_online": 1550,
   "source": "Ethiopian Monitor (Seleshi Bekele; Abiy Ahmed)",
   "url": "https://ethiopianmonitor.com/2024/08/25/gerd-two-more-turbines-start-commercial-operations/"
  },
  {
   "date": "2025-02-19",
   "event": "Fifth unit (Unit 6, 400 MW) begins generating after pre-commissioning tests; Unit 5 in final commissioning",
   "mw": 400,
   "mw_online": null,
   "source": "Addis Insight",
   "url": "https://addisinsight.net/2025/02/19/grand-ethiopian-renaissance-dam-gerd-achieves-new-milestone-fifth-turbine-begins-power-generation-at-100-32-efficiency/"
  },
  {
   "date": "2025-04-12",
   "event": "Six units operational; project 98.66% complete (cabinet meeting statement)",
   "mw": null,
   "mw_online": null,
   "source": "Libyan Express (Office of the Prime Minister statement)",
   "url": "https://www.libyanexpress.com/?p=58602"
  },
  {
   "date": "2025-05-16",
   "event": "Seven of 13 units reported operating during a site visit",
   "mw": null,
   "mw_online": 2600,
   "source": "EBC (observations of analyst Lawrence Freeman)",
   "url": "https://www.ebc.et/Home/NewsDetails?NewsId=99"
  },
  {
   "date": "2025-09-09",
   "event": "Inauguration by Abiy Ahmed; Tractebel says all 13 units in action",
   "mw": null,
   "mw_online": 5150,
   "source": "Tractebel",
   "url": "https://tractebel-engie.com/en/news/africas-largest-hydropower-scheme-inaugurated-in-ethiopia-doubling-national-power-capacity/"
  }
 ],
 "cost": [
  {
   "date": "2011-04",
   "what": "Estimate at launch",
   "amount": 80,
   "currency": "ETB",
   "unit": "bn",
   "etb_bn": 80,
   "kind": "estimate",
   "note": "The birr figure the GERD office used at the start.",
   "source": "Addis Standard, 15 Jan 2025 (GERD Project Coordination Office, via Sheger Radio); same figure in Addis Fortune 'GERD Faces 80bn Br Funding Gap'",
   "url": "https://addisstandard.com/gerd-requires-additional-80-billion-birr-despite-nearing-completion/"
  },
  {
   "date": "2011-06",
   "what": "Salini's contract, often quoted as the dam's cost",
   "amount": 4.8,
   "currency": "USD",
   "unit": "bn",
   "note": "ENR's figure for the main contract; it gives no breakdown.",
   "source": "ENR, Shem Oirere, 15 Jun 2011",
   "url": "https://www.enr.com/articles/5815-despite-controversy-ethiopia-goes-ahead-with-4-8b-grand-millennium-dam"
  },
  {
   "date": "2012-03",
   "what": "Salini's contract after its second addendum",
   "amount": 3.6,
   "currency": "EUR",
   "unit": "bn",
   "note": "Civil works: the main dam, the saddle dam, the two powerhouses and a 400 kV line from Beles that powered the site.",
   "source": "Salini Impregilo, Q1 2014 interim report (and H1 2015 report), Ethiopia section",
   "url": "https://reports.salini-impregilo.com/en/node/612"
  },
  {
   "date": "2014-04",
   "what": "The dam, without the 500 kV lines",
   "amount": 4,
   "currency": "USD",
   "unit": "bn",
   "note": "About USD 4 bn; the Chinese money for the lines is not included.",
   "source": "HornAffairs, 24 Apr 2014",
   "url": "https://hornaffairs.com/2014/04/24/ethiopia-dam-eu-russia-china-world-bank-stop-funding/"
  },
  {
   "date": "2018-12",
   "what": "Spent so far",
   "amount": 98,
   "currency": "ETB",
   "unit": "bn",
   "etb_bn": 98,
   "kind": "spent",
   "note": "Against the ETB 80 bn budgeted at the start.",
   "source": "The Reporter Ethiopia, 'Rejuvenating the GERD', 15 Dec 2018",
   "url": "https://www.thereporterethiopia.com/7009/"
  },
  {
   "date": "2020-10",
   "what": "Spent so far, with about ETB 40 bn still to come",
   "amount": 121,
   "currency": "ETB",
   "unit": "bn",
   "etb_bn": 121,
   "kind": "spent",
   "note": "",
   "source": "Ethiopian Embassy (Washington) relaying ENA, 23 Oct 2020 (Office of the National Council for the Coordination of Public Participation)",
   "url": "https://ethiopianembassy.org/public-raises-over-500-mil-birr-in-quarter-to-support-gerd-october-23-2020/"
  },
  {
   "date": "2021-04",
   "what": "Revised estimate",
   "amount": 132,
   "currency": "ETB",
   "unit": "bn",
   "etb_bn": 132,
   "kind": "estimate",
   "note": "Expected to rise with compensation for the main contractor and the birr's fall.",
   "source": "The Reporter Ethiopia, 24 Apr 2021",
   "url": "https://www.thereporterethiopia.com/11249/"
  },
  {
   "date": "2024-07",
   "what": "Revised estimate",
   "amount": 240,
   "currency": "ETB",
   "unit": "bn",
   "etb_bn": 240,
   "kind": "estimate",
   "note": "With ETB 80 bn still to find; the GERD office blamed devaluation and inflation.",
   "source": "Addis Fortune, 'GERD Faces 80bn Br Funding Gap, Nears Completion' (c. Jan 2025; page undated)",
   "url": "https://addisfortune.news/gerd-faces-80bn-br-funding-gap-nears-completion"
  },
  {
   "date": "2025-09-07",
   "what": "Total at completion",
   "amount": 233,
   "currency": "ETB",
   "unit": "bn",
   "etb_bn": 233,
   "kind": "estimate",
   "note": "'Over ETB 233 bn', all from Ethiopian sources; the same article's parts (ETB 223 bn of bank loans and ETB 23.8 bn from the public) add up to more.",
   "source": "Capital Ethiopia, Eyasu Zekarias, 7 Sep 2025",
   "url": "https://capitalethiopia.com/2025/09/07/great-ethiopian-renaissance-dam-completed-91-funded-by-cbe-oan/"
  },
  {
   "date": "2025-09-09",
   "what": "Cost at inauguration",
   "amount": 5,
   "currency": "USD",
   "unit": "bn",
   "note": "About USD 5 bn by ENR's count; AFP says USD 4 bn.",
   "source": "ENR, Bryan Gottlieb, 9 Sep 2025",
   "url": "https://www.enr.com/articles/61317-ethiopia-inaugurates-5b-renaissance-dam-africas-largest-hydropower-project"
  }
 ],
 "raised": [
  {
   "date": "2013-08",
   "what": "Collected from the public, of ETB 10.2 bn pledged",
   "etb_bn": 5.2,
   "said_by": "GERD public-participation office",
   "note": "23% of the spending so far.",
   "source": "Ethiopian Business Review",
   "url": "https://ethiopianbusinessreview.net/?p=4598"
  },
  {
   "date": "2017-06",
   "what": "Pledges received",
   "etb_bn": 9.4,
   "said_by": "Ethiopia's embassy in London",
   "note": "Including ETB 64.7 m from a special lottery; diaspora gifts about USD 39 m.",
   "source": "Water Power Magazine, 27 Jun 2017",
   "url": "https://www.waterpowermagazine.com/news/6th-anniversary-of-grand-ethiopian-renaissance-dam-celebrated-in-london-5853678/"
  },
  {
   "date": "2018-12",
   "what": "Public contributions",
   "etb_bn": 12.3,
   "said_by": "Head of the public-participation office",
   "note": "15% of the cost, against the 20% the public was expected to give.",
   "source": "The Reporter Ethiopia, 15 Dec 2018",
   "url": "https://www.thereporterethiopia.com/7009/"
  },
  {
   "date": "2020-10",
   "what": "Raised since building began",
   "etb_bn": 13.9,
   "said_by": "ENA",
   "note": "",
   "source": "ENA, 14 Oct 2020",
   "url": "https://www.ena.et/en/?p=17606"
  },
  {
   "date": "2021-08",
   "what": "Raised since building began",
   "etb_bn": 15.7,
   "said_by": "GERD office",
   "note": "ETB 2.5 bn in the 2020/21 fiscal year, the most in any year found.",
   "source": "ENA, 1 Aug 2021",
   "url": "https://www.ena.et/en/?p=27110"
  },
  {
   "date": "2025-01",
   "what": "Bond sales alone",
   "etb_bn": 20.2,
   "said_by": "Development Bank of Ethiopia",
   "bonds_only": true,
   "note": "Bonds only; the other figures count every channel.",
   "source": "Addis Standard, 15 Jan 2025",
   "url": "https://addisstandard.com/gerd-requires-additional-80-billion-birr-despite-nearing-completion/"
  },
  {
   "date": "2025-09-06",
   "what": "Bonds and gifts",
   "etb_bn": 23.6,
   "said_by": "Public-participation office",
   "note": "Text-message donations alone passed ETB 800 m (Ethio Telecom).",
   "source": "The Reporter Ethiopia, 6 Sep 2025",
   "url": "https://www.thereporterethiopia.com/46843/"
  },
  {
   "date": "2025-12-07",
   "what": "Bonds, cash gifts and text messages",
   "etb_bn": 24.0,
   "said_by": "Head of the GERD office",
   "note": "'More than' ETB 24 bn: the latest official total.",
   "source": "ENA, 7 Dec 2025",
   "url": "https://www.ena.et/web/eng/w/eng_7868901"
  }
 ],
 "contracts": [
  {
   "company": "Salini Impregilo, now Webuild",
   "country": "Italy",
   "role": "Civil works: main dam, saddle dam, powerhouses",
   "value": 3.6,
   "currency": "EUR bn",
   "awarded": "2010-12-30",
   "note": "Signed with the state utility three months before the dam was announced.",
   "source": "Salini Impregilo Q1 2014 report; Webuild press note 9 Sep 2025",
   "url": "https://reports.salini-impregilo.com/en/node/612"
  },
  {
   "company": "Studio Pietrangeli",
   "country": "Italy",
   "role": "Design",
   "value": null,
   "currency": null,
   "awarded": null,
   "note": "Webuild also says it designed the dam.",
   "source": "Studio Pietrangeli website",
   "url": "https://www.pietrangeli.com/dams-engineering/"
  },
  {
   "company": "Tractebel (ENGIE), with Electroconsult",
   "country": "Belgium, Italy",
   "role": "Employer's representative",
   "value": null,
   "currency": null,
   "awarded": "2011",
   "note": "Supervising design and building for the utility since 2011.",
   "source": "Tractebel news, 17 Sep 2025",
   "url": "https://tractebel-engie.com/en/news/africas-largest-hydropower-scheme-inaugurated-in-ethiopia-doubling-national-power-capacity/"
  },
  {
   "company": "METEC (Metals and Engineering Corporation)",
   "country": "Ethiopia",
   "role": "Electromechanical works and hydraulic steel",
   "value": 853,
   "currency": "USD m",
   "awarded": "2011",
   "note": "The army-run firm lost the contract in August 2018, after years of delay.",
   "source": "Global Construction Review, 14 Jan 2019",
   "url": "https://globalconstructionreview.com/grand-renaissance-dam-signs-200m-deals-fix-its-fau"
  },
  {
   "company": "Alstom",
   "country": "France",
   "role": "Turbines and generators, as METEC's subcontractor",
   "value": 250,
   "currency": "m",
   "awarded": "2013-01-07",
   "note": "Alstom's page gives no currency; others report euros.",
   "source": "Alstom press release, 7 Jan 2013",
   "url": "https://www.alstom.com/press-releases-news/2013/1/alstom-to-supply-hydroelectric-equipment-for-the-grand-renaissance-dam-in-ethiopia"
  },
  {
   "company": "PowerChina",
   "country": "China",
   "role": "Hydraulic steel structures, taken over from METEC",
   "value": 125.6,
   "currency": "USD m",
   "awarded": "2019-01",
   "note": "USD 120 m by another account.",
   "source": "The Reporter Ethiopia, 12 Jan 2019; Addis Fortune, 5 Jan 2019",
   "url": "https://www.thereporterethiopia.com/7195/"
  },
  {
   "company": "GE Hydro France",
   "country": "France",
   "role": "Turbine-generators",
   "value": 53.9,
   "currency": "EUR m",
   "awarded": "2019-01",
   "note": "Reports disagree on how many units: two, five or six.",
   "source": "Fana BC via Africa Arbitration, 7 Jan 2019",
   "url": "https://africaarbitration.org/2019/01/07/ethiopian-electric-power-ge-hydro-france-sign-agreement-to-manufacture-turbine-generators-for-gerd/"
  },
  {
   "company": "Voith Hydro Shanghai",
   "country": "Germany, China",
   "role": "Six turbine-generator units",
   "value": 77.9,
   "currency": "USD m",
   "awarded": "2019-01-10",
   "note": "A further USD 113 m for generating-station and spillway works was reported in February 2019.",
   "source": "Addis Fortune, 12 Jan 2019; The Reporter, 12 Jan 2019",
   "url": "https://addisfortune.news/chinese-firm-to-supply-gerd-turbines"
  },
  {
   "company": "China Gezhouba Group",
   "country": "China",
   "role": "Pre-commissioning, taken over from METEC",
   "value": 40.1,
   "currency": "USD m",
   "awarded": "2019-02-18",
   "note": "",
   "source": "Addis Fortune, 23 Feb 2019",
   "url": "https://addisfortune.news/chinese-firm-seals-deal-to-pre-commission-gerd"
  },
  {
   "company": "China Electric Power Equipment and Technology (State Grid)",
   "country": "China",
   "role": "The 500 kV lines and substations, turnkey",
   "value": 1.2,
   "currency": "USD bn",
   "awarded": "2013-04-26",
   "note": "85% of it lent by the contractor itself; see the loans above.",
   "source": "AidData record 30244",
   "url": "https://china.aiddata.org/projects/30244/"
  }
 ],
 "exports": [
  {
   "partner": "Kenya",
   "item": "500 kV direct-current line, Wolayta-Sodo to Suswa",
   "value": "1,045 km, 2,000 MW",
   "unit": "",
   "date": "2012-07-12",
   "note": "USD 1.26 bn, lent by the World Bank (USD 684 m), the AfDB (USD 338 m) and France's AFD (EUR 91 m). Not part of GERD, but the way its power reaches Kenya.",
   "source": "World Bank Projects API (lendprojectcost), P126579",
   "url": "https://search.worldbank.org/api/v2/projects?format=json&id=P126579"
  },
  {
   "partner": "Kenya",
   "item": "Power purchase agreement",
   "value": "200 MW, then 400 MW",
   "unit": "",
   "date": "2022-07-28",
   "note": "25 years at 6.5 US cents a kWh for the first five; imports began in late 2022.",
   "source": "Green Building Africa, 3 Aug 2022",
   "url": "https://www.greenbuildingafrica.co.za/ethiopia-signs-ppa-to-export-200mw-to-kenya/"
  },
  {
   "partner": "Kenya",
   "item": "New supply deal, with Ethiopia's distribution utility",
   "value": 15.5,
   "unit": "US cents a kWh",
   "date": "2026-07-10",
   "note": "One report; Ethiopia supplied 83% of Kenya's imports in 2024/25.",
   "source": "Capital Ethiopia, Eyasu Zekarias, 10 Jul 2026",
   "url": "https://capitalethiopia.com/2026/07/10/kenya-power-to-pay-15-5-cents-per-kwh-in-newly-finalized-ethiopia-energy-deal/"
  },
  {
   "partner": "Tanzania",
   "item": "Sales through Kenya's grid",
   "value": 100,
   "unit": "MW",
   "date": "2025-01-25",
   "note": "Three-way deal with Kenya's transmission company; trial supply in 2024/25.",
   "source": "Addis Fortune, 25 Jan 2025",
   "url": "https://addisfortune.news/ethiopia-tanzania-power-deal-signed-kenya-to-transmit"
  },
  {
   "partner": "Djibouti",
   "item": "Second interconnection, World Bank credit",
   "value": 66.9,
   "unit": "USD m",
   "date": "2022-03-29",
   "note": "The first 230 kV link has run since 2011.",
   "source": "World Bank Projects API, P173763",
   "url": "https://search.worldbank.org/api/v2/projects?format=json&id=P173763"
  },
  {
   "partner": "Sudan",
   "item": "Contracted supply",
   "value": 100,
   "unit": "MW",
   "date": "2025-01-25",
   "note": "But sales came to USD 0.9 m in 2024/25.",
   "source": "Addis Fortune, 25 Jan 2025",
   "url": "https://addisfortune.news/ethiopia-tanzania-power-deal-signed-kenya-to-transmit"
  }
 ],
 "crypto": [
  {
   "date": "2024-02-08",
   "item": "Companies with power deals, 19 of them Chinese",
   "value": 21,
   "unit": "",
   "note": "Ethiopia legalised bitcoin mining in 2022 (Bloomberg, via The Block).",
   "source": "Bloomberg, 8 Feb 2024, via The Block (11 Feb 2024)",
   "url": "https://www.theblock.co/post/277007/ethiopias-cheap-electricity-is-attracting-chinese-mining-companies-bloomberg"
  },
  {
   "date": "2025-08-09",
   "item": "Tariff miners pay, in dollars",
   "value": 3.14,
   "unit": "US cents a kWh",
   "note": "",
   "source": "The Reporter Ethiopia, 9 Aug 2025",
   "url": "https://www.thereporterethiopia.com/46389/"
  },
  {
   "date": "2025-08-07",
   "item": "Share of Ethiopia's electricity use taken by data mining, 2024/25",
   "value": 27,
   "unit": "%",
   "note": "From the utility's figures.",
   "source": "StockMarket.et, 7 Aug 2025, from EEP's annual performance report",
   "url": "https://www.stockmarket.et/ethiopias-grid-feeds-27-to-mining/"
  },
  {
   "date": "2025-08-07",
   "item": "The utility stops signing new miners",
   "value": null,
   "unit": "",
   "note": "Its chief executive: no new contracts.",
   "source": "Shega, 7 Aug 2025; The Reporter, 9 Aug 2025",
   "url": "https://shega.co/news/ethiopia-freezes-new-power-permits-for-crypto-miners-amid-capacity-saturation"
  },
  {
   "date": "2026-09-15",
   "item": "Power-purchase agreements with miners (31 operating)",
   "value": 39,
   "unit": "",
   "note": "",
   "source": "The Edge Malaysia, 15 Sep 2026 (image credit Bloomberg)",
   "url": "https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/818177"
  },
  {
   "date": "2026-09-15",
   "item": "Miners' supply cut, share of contracted power",
   "value": 23,
   "unit": "%",
   "note": "In stages from 98%, as an El Niño drought cut hydro output.",
   "source": "The Edge Malaysia, 15 Sep 2026, quoting EEP CEO Ashebir Balcha",
   "url": "https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/818177"
  }
 ],
 "loans": [
  {
   "aiddata_id": 30244,
   "lender": "China Electric Power Equipment and Technology (CET), refinanced by China Construction Bank and ICBC",
   "borrower": "Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation",
   "amount": 1.003,
   "currency": "USD",
   "unit": "bn",
   "year": 2013,
   "for": "GERD's 500 kV lines",
   "terms": "3.08%, 14.7 years, 3.2 years' grace; secured on the utility's receivables",
   "source": "AidData, China's Global Loans and Grants Dataset 1.0, record 30244",
   "url": "https://china.aiddata.org/projects/30244/",
   "note": "It paid for 85% of a USD 1.2 bn contract; Ethiopia's government paid the rest. CET built 345 km of double-circuit 500 kV line from GERD to a new substation at Dedessa and 275 km on to Holeta, near Addis Ababa, with 400 kV links to Akaki, Sebeta and Sululta, and finished in December 2015, six years before the dam's first turbine turned. In 2019 the loan was restructured to halve payments over five years, about USD 18 m a year of relief for the utility, AidData records. Ethiopia's own aid-management database lists the credit, at ETB 18.6 bn."
  }
 ],
 "nile": [
  {
   "id": "blue_nile_flow_diem",
   "label": "The Blue Nile at the border",
   "value": 48.7,
   "unit": "billion m³ a year",
   "note": "Average yearly flow at El Diem, 1912–1997 (FAO, from Sutcliffe and Parks).",
   "source": "FAO Nile poster (Sutcliffe and Parks 1999)",
   "url": "https://www.fao.org/4/an530e/an530e.pdf"
  },
  {
   "id": "nile_flow_aswan_1959",
   "label": "The Nile at Aswan",
   "value": 84,
   "unit": "billion m³ a year",
   "note": "The average the 1959 agreement assumed; a 2020 study of natural flows over 1900–2018 gives 86.5.",
   "source": "1959 Agreement for the Full Utilization of the Nile Waters (Cairo, 8 Nov 1959), text via International Water Law Project",
   "url": "https://internationalwaterlaw.org/documents/regionaldocs/uar_sudan.html"
  },
  {
   "id": "blue_nile_share_aswan_wheeler",
   "label": "Blue Nile's share at Aswan",
   "value": 55,
   "unit": "%",
   "note": "Of the average yearly flow; the White Nile gives 32% and the Atbara 13% (Wheeler et al. 2020). The 85–86% often quoted is the share that rises in Ethiopia, through the Blue Nile, the Atbara and the Sobat together.",
   "source": "Wheeler et al. 2020, Nature Communications",
   "url": "https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-19089-x"
  },
  {
   "id": "blue_nile_share_flood_loc",
   "label": "…in the high-water season",
   "value": 68,
   "unit": "%",
   "note": "The Blue Nile's share of the river reaching Egypt during the flood (US Library of Congress country study).",
   "source": "US Library of Congress, Egypt Country Study",
   "url": "https://countrystudies.us/egypt/49.htm"
  },
  {
   "id": "blue_nile_seasonality",
   "label": "The Blue Nile in July–September",
   "value": 69,
   "unit": "% of its yearly flow",
   "note": "The rains of three months, the months GERD's lake was filled in (UNEP to the Security Council, 2021).",
   "source": "UN Security Council, S/PV.8816 (briefing by UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen, 8 Jul 2021)",
   "url": "https://documents.un.org/api/symbol/access?s=S/PV.8816&l=en&t=pdf"
  },
  {
   "id": "agreement_1959_egypt",
   "label": "The 1959 agreement",
   "value": "55.5 billion m³ a year for Egypt, 18.5 for Sudan",
   "unit": "",
   "note": "Signed by Egypt and Sudan alone, after setting aside 10 billion m³ for evaporation at the High Aswan Dam. Ethiopia was not a party.",
   "source": "FAO Nile poster",
   "url": "https://www.fao.org/4/an530e/an530e.pdf"
  },
  {
   "id": "agreement_1929",
   "label": "The 1929 notes",
   "value": "Egypt's consent for works upstream",
   "unit": "",
   "note": "Exchanged between Egypt and Britain for Sudan and the British territories of East Africa; Ethiopia was neither covered nor a party.",
   "source": "Exchange of notes, text via International Water Law Project",
   "url": "https://internationalwaterlaw.org/documents/regionaldocs/Egypt_UK_Nile_Agreement-1929.html"
  },
  {
   "id": "had_storage_wheeler",
   "label": "Lake Nasser's capacity",
   "value": 162,
   "unit": "billion m³",
   "note": "Behind the High Aswan Dam, finished in 1970; silt has taken about 7 billion m³ of it. More than twice GERD's.",
   "source": "Wheeler et al. 2020, Nature Communications",
   "url": "https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-19089-x"
  },
  {
   "id": "roseires_storage_after",
   "label": "Roseires' capacity",
   "value": 7.4,
   "unit": "billion m³",
   "note": "Since the dam was raised by 10 m in 2013; UNEP told the Security Council 5.9 billion m³. A tenth of GERD's.",
   "source": "Water Power Magazine, 'Roseires dam expansion officially opened', 22 Jan 2013",
   "url": "https://www.waterpowermagazine.com/news/roseires-dam-expansion-officially-opened/"
  },
  {
   "id": "gerd_roseires_distance",
   "label": "From GERD to Roseires",
   "value": 100,
   "unit": "km",
   "note": "Downstream, in Sudan.",
   "source": "UN Security Council, S/PV.8816 (UNEP briefing; Sudan FM Mariam al-Mahdi)",
   "url": "https://documents.un.org/api/symbol/access?s=S/PV.8816&l=en&t=pdf"
  },
  {
   "id": "gerd_evaporation",
   "label": "Evaporation from GERD's lake",
   "value": 1.7,
   "unit": "billion m³ a year",
   "note": "Net, when full; partly offset by 1.1 billion m³ less evaporation from a lower Lake Nasser (Wheeler et al.).",
   "source": "Wheeler et al. 2020, Nature Communications",
   "url": "https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-19089-x"
  },
  {
   "id": "egypt_nile_dependence_afp",
   "label": "Egypt's water from the Nile",
   "value": 97,
   "unit": "%",
   "note": "AFP and a 2024 study; President Sisi said more than 98% in October 2026.",
   "source": "Africanews/AFP, 3 Feb 2026; Abdelmohsen et al. 2024 (PNAS Nexus)",
   "url": "https://www.africanews.com/2026/02/03/ethiopia-denies-trump-claim-that-us-funded-nile-mega-dam/"
  },
  {
   "id": "egypt_water_per_capita_2025",
   "label": "Egypt's water per person",
   "value": "about 500",
   "unit": "m³ a year",
   "note": "Egypt's figure to the Security Council in 2025, at the threshold of absolute scarcity; it said 560 m³ in 2020.",
   "source": "UN Security Council, S/2025/562 (Egypt FM letter, 9 Sep 2025)",
   "url": "https://documents.un.org/api/symbol/access?s=S/2025/562&l=en&t=pdf"
  }
 ],
 "effects": [
  {
   "by": "Ethiopia",
   "claim": "The first filling holds back about a tenth of the Blue Nile's yearly flow; Lake Nasser loses twice that to evaporation every year.",
   "date": "2020-06-29",
   "value": null,
   "unit": null,
   "source": "UN Security Council, S/2020/636",
   "url": "https://documents.un.org/api/symbol/access?s=S/2020/636&l=en&t=pdf"
  },
  {
   "by": "Egypt",
   "claim": "Without a binding agreement on filling and operation, shortages in Egypt could add up to 120 billion m³.",
   "date": "2021-07-08",
   "value": 120,
   "unit": "billion m³",
   "source": "UN Security Council, S/PV.8816",
   "url": "https://documents.un.org/api/symbol/access?s=S/PV.8816&l=en&t=pdf"
  },
  {
   "by": "Sudan",
   "claim": "The 2020 filling, made without notice, dropped the Blue Nile suddenly and shut water stations in Khartoum for over three days.",
   "date": "2021-07-08",
   "value": null,
   "unit": null,
   "source": "UN Security Council, S/PV.8816",
   "url": "https://documents.un.org/api/symbol/access?s=S/PV.8816&l=en&t=pdf"
  },
  {
   "by": "Sudan",
   "claim": "GERD could halve the floodplain Sudanese farmers plant as the flood recedes.",
   "date": "2021-07-08",
   "value": 50,
   "unit": "%",
   "source": "UN Security Council, S/PV.8816",
   "url": "https://documents.un.org/api/symbol/access?s=S/PV.8816&l=en&t=pdf"
  },
  {
   "by": "Sudan",
   "claim": "Run with information shared, GERD would protect Sudan from floods and even out the river's flow through the year.",
   "date": "2021-07-08",
   "value": null,
   "unit": null,
   "source": "UN Security Council, S/PV.8816",
   "url": "https://documents.un.org/api/symbol/access?s=S/PV.8816&l=en&t=pdf"
  },
  {
   "by": "Sudan",
   "claim": "Roseires and the other Blue Nile dams water 70% of Sudan's irrigation schemes and make almost 40% of its electricity; their safety depends on GERD's data.",
   "date": "2021-07-08",
   "value": 70,
   "unit": "%",
   "source": "UN Security Council, S/PV.8816",
   "url": "https://documents.un.org/api/symbol/access?s=S/PV.8816&l=en&t=pdf"
  },
  {
   "by": "Ethiopia",
   "claim": "GERD is for Sudan what the High Aswan Dam is for Egypt.",
   "date": "2021-07-08",
   "value": null,
   "unit": null,
   "source": "UN Security Council, S/PV.8816",
   "url": "https://documents.un.org/api/symbol/access?s=S/PV.8816&l=en&t=pdf"
  },
  {
   "by": "Wheeler et al. (model)",
   "claim": "Filling in average years, Egypt can still release its 55.5 billion m³ a year, but Lake Nasser falls to levels not seen in decades.",
   "date": "2020-10-16",
   "value": null,
   "unit": null,
   "source": "Wheeler et al. 2020, Nature Communications 11:5222",
   "url": "https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-19089-x"
  },
  {
   "by": "Wheeler et al. (model)",
   "claim": "A drought like the 1980s' during the filling would add 46 billion m³ to Egypt's shortfall over 20 years.",
   "date": "2020-10-16",
   "value": 46,
   "unit": "billion m³",
   "source": "Wheeler et al. 2020, Nature Communications",
   "url": "https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-19089-x"
  },
  {
   "by": "Ali, Melsen and Teuling (satellite)",
   "claim": "The first three fillings held back 5–14% of the Blue Nile's yearly flow, and cut flows to Sudan sharply in the filling months.",
   "date": "2023",
   "value": 13.7,
   "unit": "% at most",
   "source": "Ali, Melsen & Teuling (2023), 'Inferring reservoir filling strategies under limited-data-availability conditions...: the case of the GERD', HESS 27:4057-4086",
   "url": "https://hess.copernicus.org/articles/27/4057/2023/"
  },
  {
   "by": "Abdelmohsen et al. (satellite)",
   "claim": "Much of the water stored after each filling was lost underground: about 20 billion m³ of seepage in 2019–2022, by this one study's estimate.",
   "date": "2024-06-06",
   "value": 19.8,
   "unit": "billion m³",
   "source": "Abdelmohsen et al. 2024, 'Watching the GERD from a distance', PNAS Nexus 3:pgae219 (author copy via OSTI)",
   "url": "https://www.osti.gov/pages/servlets/purl/2568449"
  },
  {
   "by": "Egypt",
   "claim": "Above-average floods have so far given Egypt relative protection from major harm.",
   "date": "2024-09-01",
   "value": null,
   "unit": null,
   "source": "UN Security Council, S/2024/646",
   "url": "https://documents.un.org/api/symbol/access?s=S/2024/646&l=en&t=pdf"
  },
  {
   "by": "Egypt",
   "claim": "Harm already comes from having to manage variable, unpredictable flows from upstream.",
   "date": "2025-09-09",
   "value": null,
   "unit": null,
   "source": "UN Security Council, S/2025/562",
   "url": "https://documents.un.org/api/symbol/access?s=S/2025/562&l=en&t=pdf"
  },
  {
   "by": "Egypt",
   "claim": "Sudden releases in September 2025, peaking on the 27th, worsened floods in Sudan.",
   "date": "2025-10-03",
   "value": 780,
   "unit": "million m³ a day",
   "source": "Ahram Online, 4 Oct 2025 and 22 Nov 2025",
   "url": "https://english.ahram.org.eg/News/557329.aspx"
  },
  {
   "by": "Sudan",
   "claim": "The September 2025 rise came from heavy rain and GERD's releases once the lake was full.",
   "date": "2025-09-30",
   "value": 750,
   "unit": "million m³ a day, peak",
   "source": "Ahram Online, 'Sudan warns of Nile flood risk from Ethiopia's GERD water release', 1 Oct 2025",
   "url": "https://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContentP/1/554150/Egypt/Sudan-warns-of-Nile-flood-risk-from-Ethiopia%E2%80%99s-GER.aspx"
  },
  {
   "by": "Ethiopia",
   "claim": "GERD lowered the 2025 flood: before it, the Blue Nile peaked above 800 million m³ a day; Sudan's floods came mainly from the White Nile.",
   "date": "2025-10-04",
   "value": 472,
   "unit": "million m³ a day, September average",
   "source": "Ethiopia Ministry of Water and Energy, 'Press Release on Egyptian Accusation', Oct 2025",
   "url": "https://www.mowe.gov.et/en/news/press-release-on-egyptian-accusation-october-2025-1"
  },
  {
   "by": "Egypt",
   "claim": "Releases in November 2025 ran 80% above the historical average; Egypt opened the Toshka spillway.",
   "date": "2025-11-22",
   "value": 180,
   "unit": "million m³ a day",
   "source": "Ahram Online, 22 Nov 2025",
   "url": "https://english.ahram.org.eg/News/557329.aspx"
  },
  {
   "by": "Sudan",
   "claim": "In July 2026 the Blue Nile's inflow to Roseires fell by over a third in two days as GERD cut its releases.",
   "date": "2026-07-21",
   "value": 129,
   "unit": "million m³ a day",
   "source": "Ahram Online, 'GERD data blackout forces Sudan dam operators to take precautions: Sewilam', 22 Jul 2026",
   "url": "https://english.ahram.org.eg/News/573300.aspx"
  }
 ],
 "timeline": [
  {
   "date": "1902",
   "event": "Ethiopia and Britain sign a border treaty; Egypt reads it as barring Ethiopian works on the Blue Nile that would change its flow.",
   "kind": "law",
   "source": "UN Security Council, S/2020/636 (Egypt FM statement, 29 Jun 2020)",
   "url": "https://documents.un.org/api/symbol/access?s=S/2020/636&l=en&t=pdf"
  },
  {
   "date": "1929-05-07",
   "event": "Egypt and Britain exchange notes on the Nile: works upstream in Sudan or British East Africa need Egypt's consent. Ethiopia is not covered.",
   "kind": "law",
   "source": "International Water Law Project (text)",
   "url": "https://internationalwaterlaw.org/documents/regionaldocs/Egypt_UK_Nile_Agreement-1929.html"
  },
  {
   "date": "1959-11-08",
   "event": "Egypt and Sudan divide the Nile between them: 55.5 billion m³ a year for Egypt, 18.5 for Sudan, 10 for evaporation at the High Aswan Dam.",
   "kind": "law",
   "source": "International Water Law Project (text)",
   "url": "https://internationalwaterlaw.org/documents/regionaldocs/uar_sudan.html"
  },
  {
   "date": "2010-05-14",
   "event": "The Nile Basin's Cooperative Framework Agreement opens for signature at Entebbe; Ethiopia and five other upstream states sign, Egypt and Sudan refuse.",
   "kind": "law",
   "source": "EJIL:Talk!, 'Entry into Force of the Nile Basin Cooperative Framework Agreement: Challenges and Prospects'",
   "url": "https://www.ejiltalk.org/entry-into-force-of-the-nile-basin-cooperative-framework-agreement-challenges-and-prospects/"
  },
  {
   "date": "2011-03",
   "event": "The plan is announced as the Millennium Dam; Salini Impregilo holds the main contract, reported at USD 4.8 bn.",
   "kind": "build",
   "source": "Anadolu Agency timeline",
   "url": "https://aa.com.tr/en/africa/timeline-how-ethiopia-s-grand-renaissance-dam-project-unfolded/3682220"
  },
  {
   "date": "2011-04",
   "event": "Renamed the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.",
   "kind": "build",
   "source": "Anadolu Agency timeline",
   "url": "https://aa.com.tr/en/africa/timeline-how-ethiopia-s-grand-renaissance-dam-project-unfolded/3682220"
  },
  {
   "date": "2011-04-02",
   "event": "Prime Minister Meles Zenawi lays the cornerstone at Guba. The project had been code-named Project X.",
   "kind": "build",
   "source": "Horn Affairs (2011-04-11)",
   "url": "https://hornaffairs.com/2011/04/11/quick-facts-on-the-grand-millennium-dam-ethiopia"
  },
  {
   "date": "2013-05-28",
   "event": "The Blue Nile is diverted from its bed to build the dam.",
   "kind": "build",
   "source": "AFP via Arab News (2013-05-30)",
   "url": "https://www.arabnews.com/world/ethiopia-diverts-blue-nile-for-disputed-dam-453322"
  },
  {
   "date": "2013-05-31",
   "event": "An international panel of experts, two each from Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan and four from outside, finishes its report; it stays confidential.",
   "kind": "talks",
   "source": "Al-Monitor (Ayah Aman, Apr 2014, from a leaked copy); Horn Affairs (1 Jun 2013, citing Ethiopia's Ministry of Water and Energy)",
   "url": "https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2014/04/egypt-ethiopia-renaissance-dam-dispute-leaked-report.html"
  },
  {
   "date": "2013-06-10",
   "event": "President Mohamed Morsi says all options are open, while saying Egypt does not seek war; days earlier, politicians had floated hostile action on a broadcast they did not know was live.",
   "kind": "talks",
   "source": "Al Jazeera, 'Egypt warns Ethiopia over Nile dam', 11 Jun 2013",
   "url": "https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2013/6/11/egypt-warns-ethiopia-over-nile-dam"
  },
  {
   "date": "2014",
   "event": "A tripartite committee is set up to carry out the studies the panel recommended.",
   "kind": "talks",
   "source": "UN Security Council, S/2020/636 (DiCarlo briefing)",
   "url": "https://documents.un.org/api/symbol/access?s=S/2020/636&l=en&t=pdf"
  },
  {
   "date": "2014-12-28",
   "event": "A record 23,000 m³ of concrete is placed in 24 hours.",
   "kind": "build",
   "source": "Webuild press release",
   "url": "https://www.webuildgroup.com/en/media/press-releases/grand-ethopian-renaissance-dam-gerd-inaugurated/"
  },
  {
   "date": "2015-03-23",
   "event": "Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan sign a Declaration of Principles in Khartoum: ten principles, including no significant harm and cooperation on filling.",
   "kind": "talks",
   "source": "Ahram Online/MENA, 'Full text of Declaration of Principles' (unofficial translation), 23 Mar 2015",
   "url": "https://english.ahram.org.eg/News/125941.aspx"
  },
  {
   "date": "2018-07-26",
   "event": "The project manager, Simegnew Bekele, is found dead in his car in Meskel Square, Addis Ababa.",
   "kind": "build",
   "source": "Africanews",
   "url": "http://www.africanews.com/2018/07/26/shock-as-engineer-of-ethiopia-s-gerd-project-is-found-dead/"
  },
  {
   "date": "2019-02",
   "event": "China Gezhouba signs to take over pre-commissioning from METEC.",
   "kind": "build",
   "source": "POWER Magazine",
   "url": "https://www.powermag.com/gerd-how-ethiopias-blue-nile-vision-became-africas-largest-hydropower-plant/"
  },
  {
   "date": "2019-11-06",
   "event": "Talks open in Washington under the US Treasury, with the World Bank, aiming at an agreement by 15 January 2020.",
   "kind": "talks",
   "source": "US Treasury, 'Joint Statement of Egypt, Ethiopia, Sudan, the United States, and the World Bank', 6 Nov 2019",
   "url": "https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sm827"
  },
  {
   "date": "2019-11-15",
   "event": "The design is cut from 16 turbines to 13, from 6,450 to 5,150 MW; the expected output stays at 15,760 GWh a year.",
   "kind": "power",
   "source": "ENA (Abdu Yibre)",
   "url": "https://www.ena.et/en/?p=10745"
  },
  {
   "date": "2020-02-26",
   "event": "Ethiopia skips the final Washington round, saying its consultations at home are unfinished.",
   "kind": "talks",
   "source": "Ethiopian News Agency (Ministry of Water, Irrigation and Energy statement), 26 Feb 2020",
   "url": "https://www.ena.et/en/?p=12879"
  },
  {
   "date": "2020-02-28",
   "event": "Egypt initials the text drafted in Washington; the US Treasury says filling should not start without an agreement.",
   "kind": "talks",
   "source": "US Treasury, 'Statement by the Secretary of the Treasury on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam', 28 Feb 2020 (archived PDF, FRASER)",
   "url": "https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/files/docs/publications/treaspr/2020/2020-02-29_statement-by-the-secretary-of-the-treasury-on-the-grand-ethiopian-renaissance-dam.pdf"
  },
  {
   "date": "2020-02-29",
   "event": "Ethiopia rejects the Treasury's statement and says it will start filling alongside construction.",
   "kind": "talks",
   "source": "Ethiopian News Agency, joint MoFA/MoWIE statement, 29 Feb 2020",
   "url": "https://www.ena.et/en/?p=12955"
  },
  {
   "date": "2020-06-26",
   "event": "The African Union takes over the mediation, with the three leaders at an extraordinary bureau meeting.",
   "kind": "talks",
   "source": "UN Security Council, S/2020/636 (DiCarlo briefing and Egypt FM statement)",
   "url": "https://documents.un.org/api/symbol/access?s=S/2020/636&l=en&t=pdf"
  },
  {
   "date": "2020-06-29",
   "event": "The UN Security Council meets on GERD for the first time; no outcome.",
   "kind": "talks",
   "source": "UN Security Council, S/2020/636 (letter of 1 Jul 2020 compiling the statements)",
   "url": "https://documents.un.org/api/symbol/access?s=S/2020/636&l=en&t=pdf"
  },
  {
   "date": "2020-07",
   "event": "The first filling goes ahead in the July–August rains without an agreement.",
   "kind": "talks",
   "source": "UN Security Council, S/PV.8816 (UNEP briefing)",
   "url": "https://documents.un.org/api/symbol/access?s=S/PV.8816&l=en&t=pdf"
  },
  {
   "date": "2020-07-21",
   "event": "Ethiopia announces the first filling complete: 4.9 billion m³, the year's target.",
   "kind": "fill",
   "source": "AFP via TerraDaily",
   "url": "https://terradaily.com/ethiopia-says-first-year-of-nile-mega-dam-filling-achieved-999/"
  },
  {
   "date": "2021-04-04",
   "event": "AU talks in Kinshasa end without agreement: Egypt and Sudan want the UN, US and EU as mediators too, Ethiopia keeps to the AU.",
   "kind": "talks",
   "source": "UN Security Council, S/PV.8816 (briefing by UN envoy Parfait Onanga-Anyanga; Egypt FM statement)",
   "url": "https://documents.un.org/api/symbol/access?s=S/PV.8816&l=en&t=pdf"
  },
  {
   "date": "2021-07-08",
   "event": "The Security Council meets again, with Egypt's and Sudan's foreign ministers; Ethiopia says the second filling is under way.",
   "kind": "talks",
   "source": "UN Security Council, S/PV.8816",
   "url": "https://documents.un.org/api/symbol/access?s=S/PV.8816&l=en&t=pdf"
  },
  {
   "date": "2021-07-19",
   "event": "Ethiopia announces the second filling complete, without a volume; the target was 13.5 billion m³.",
   "kind": "fill",
   "source": "The Star (Kenya)",
   "url": "https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2021-07-19-ethiopia-says-second-filling-of-giant-dam-on-blue-nile-complete"
  },
  {
   "date": "2021-09-15",
   "event": "A Security Council presidential statement urges the three countries back to AU-led talks.",
   "kind": "talks",
   "source": "UN Security Council, S/PRST/2021/18",
   "url": "https://documents.un.org/api/symbol/access?s=S/PRST/2021/18&l=en&t=pdf"
  },
  {
   "date": "2022-02-20",
   "event": "First power: unit 10, 375 MW.",
   "kind": "power",
   "source": "Anadolu Agency",
   "url": "https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/ethiopias-5b-hydro-dam-on-nile-goes-operational/2507855"
  },
  {
   "date": "2022-08-11",
   "event": "The second turbine, unit 9, comes online: 750 MW in all.",
   "kind": "power",
   "source": "Fana Media Corporation",
   "url": "https://www.fanamc.com/english/?p=33629"
  },
  {
   "date": "2022-08-12",
   "event": "Third filling: the lake reaches 600 m, Abiy Ahmed says.",
   "kind": "fill",
   "source": "AFP via Phys.org",
   "url": "https://phys.org/news/2022-08-ethiopia-mega-dam-reservoir.html"
  },
  {
   "date": "2023-07-13",
   "event": "Sisi and Abiy agree in Cairo to finish an agreement on filling and operation within four months.",
   "kind": "talks",
   "source": "Ahram Online, 13 Jul 2023",
   "url": "https://english.ahram.org.eg/News/504715.aspx"
  },
  {
   "date": "2023-09-10",
   "event": "Abiy Ahmed announces the fourth and, he says, final filling.",
   "kind": "fill",
   "source": "AFP via VOA",
   "url": "https://www.voanews.com/a/ethiopia-completes-filling-of-nile-renaissance-mega-dam/7261828.html"
  },
  {
   "date": "2023-12-19",
   "event": "The fourth round of the revived talks ends without agreement in Addis Ababa; Egypt declares the track over.",
   "kind": "talks",
   "source": "Ahram Online, 'Egypt announces unsuccessful conclusion of GERD negotiations', 19 Dec 2023",
   "url": "https://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContentP/1/514365/Egypt/Egypt-announces-unsuccessful-conclusion-of-GERD-ne.aspx"
  },
  {
   "date": "2024-08-24",
   "event": "Units 7 and 8, 400 MW each, come online: 1,550 MW. The GERD office says the project moves from construction to operation.",
   "kind": "power",
   "source": "Ethiopian Monitor; AFP via Arab News",
   "url": "https://ethiopianmonitor.com/2024/08/25/gerd-two-more-turbines-start-commercial-operations/"
  },
  {
   "date": "2024-08-26",
   "event": "Abiy Ahmed announces the fifth and final stage of the filling.",
   "kind": "talks",
   "source": "UN Security Council, S/2024/646 (Egypt's letter of 1 Sep 2024)",
   "url": "https://documents.un.org/api/symbol/access?s=S/2024/646&l=en&t=pdf"
  },
  {
   "date": "2024-09-01",
   "event": "Egypt writes to the Security Council: a fifth unilateral filling breaches the 2015 declaration, and Egypt stands ready to defend its interests.",
   "kind": "talks",
   "source": "UN Security Council, S/2024/646",
   "url": "https://documents.un.org/api/symbol/access?s=S/2024/646&l=en&t=pdf"
  },
  {
   "date": "2024-09-06",
   "event": "Ethiopia replies that Egypt's charges are unfounded and urges it to ratify the Nile Basin agreement.",
   "kind": "talks",
   "source": "UN Security Council, S/2024/659",
   "url": "https://documents.un.org/api/symbol/access?s=S/2024/659&l=en&t=pdf"
  },
  {
   "date": "2024-10",
   "event": "The fifth filling is declared complete.",
   "kind": "fill",
   "source": "Anadolu Agency timeline",
   "url": "https://aa.com.tr/en/africa/timeline-how-ethiopia-s-grand-renaissance-dam-project-unfolded/3682220"
  },
  {
   "date": "2024-10-13",
   "event": "The Nile Basin Cooperative Framework Agreement enters into force, ratified by Burundi, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and South Sudan; Egypt and Sudan stay out.",
   "kind": "law",
   "source": "Nile Basin States, 'Announcement ... of the entry into force of the Nile River Basin Cooperative Framework Agreement', 13 Oct 2024 (NBI)",
   "url": "https://nilebasin.org/sites/default/files/2024-10/Announcement%20of%20the%20Entry%20into%20force%20of%20the%20CFA%20%20on%2013%20October%202024.pdf"
  },
  {
   "date": "2025-02-19",
   "event": "A fifth turbine, unit 6, starts generating.",
   "kind": "power",
   "source": "Addis Insight",
   "url": "https://addisinsight.net/2025/02/19/grand-ethiopian-renaissance-dam-gerd-achieves-new-milestone-fifth-turbine-begins-power-generation-at-100-32-efficiency/"
  },
  {
   "date": "2025-04-12",
   "event": "Six turbines are running, and the project is 98.66% complete, the government says.",
   "kind": "power",
   "source": "Libyan Express",
   "url": "https://www.libyanexpress.com/?p=58602"
  },
  {
   "date": "2025-07-03",
   "event": "Abiy Ahmed tells parliament the dam is complete.",
   "kind": "build",
   "source": "AFP via Arab News",
   "url": "https://www.arabnews.com/world/ethiopias-pm-says-nile-mega-dam-now-complete-2606744"
  },
  {
   "date": "2025-09-03",
   "event": "Egypt's and Sudan's water ministers call GERD a unilateral project and a threat to stability in the Eastern Nile; Sudan's leaders stay away from the inauguration.",
   "kind": "talks",
   "source": "Ahram Online, 'Ethiopia inaugurates GERD despite strong objections from Egypt, Sudan', 9 Sep 2025; Al Jazeera, 9 Sep 2025",
   "url": "https://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/8/552690/World/Region/Ethiopia-inaugurates-GERD-despite-strong-objection.aspx"
  },
  {
   "date": "2025-09-09",
   "event": "GERD is inaugurated at Guba; the lake is named Nigat, Dawn.",
   "kind": "build",
   "source": "ENA; Webuild",
   "url": "https://www.ena.et/web/eng/w/eng_7302737"
  },
  {
   "date": "2025-09-09",
   "event": "The same day, Egypt tells the Security Council the inauguration breaches the 2015 declaration.",
   "kind": "talks",
   "source": "UN Security Council, S/2025/562 (Egypt's letter of 9 Sep 2025)",
   "url": "https://documents.un.org/api/symbol/access?s=S/2025/562&l=en&t=pdf"
  },
  {
   "date": "2025-09-10",
   "event": "Ethiopia replies that Egypt seeks to monopolise the Nile, citing the Nile Basin agreement now in force.",
   "kind": "talks",
   "source": "UN Security Council, S/2025/573",
   "url": "https://documents.un.org/api/symbol/access?s=S/2025/573&l=en&t=pdf"
  },
  {
   "date": "2025-10-03",
   "event": "Egypt accuses Ethiopia of reckless releases in September, blaming them for floods in Sudan; Ethiopia rejects the charge the next day.",
   "kind": "talks",
   "source": "Ahram Online, 4 Oct 2025; Ethiopia Ministry of Water and Energy press release, Oct 2025",
   "url": "https://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/1234/554319/Egypt/Foreign-Affairs/Egypt-accuses-Ethiopia-of-%E2%80%98reckless%E2%80%99-GERD-manageme.aspx"
  },
  {
   "date": "2025-11-22",
   "event": "Egypt protests renewed erratic releases and opens the Toshka spillway.",
   "kind": "talks",
   "source": "Ahram Online, 22 Nov 2025",
   "url": "https://english.ahram.org.eg/News/557329.aspx"
  },
  {
   "date": "2026-01-16",
   "event": "President Trump writes to President Sisi offering to restart US mediation.",
   "kind": "talks",
   "source": "Ahram Online, 17 Jan 2026",
   "url": "https://english.ahram.org.eg/News/560650.aspx"
  },
  {
   "date": "2026-02-03",
   "event": "Abiy Ahmed tells parliament GERD took no foreign loans or aid, after Trump said at Davos that the United States had paid for it.",
   "kind": "talks",
   "source": "Africanews (AFP), 3 Feb 2026",
   "url": "https://www.africanews.com/2026/02/03/ethiopia-denies-trump-claim-that-us-funded-nile-mega-dam/"
  },
  {
   "date": "2026-07-31",
   "event": "Ethiopia's utility says GERD made 51.5% of its 35,670 GWh in 2025/26.",
   "kind": "power",
   "source": "Ecofin Agency",
   "url": "https://www.ecofinagency.com/news-industry/3107-57883-ethiopia-s-renaissance-dam-leads-state-power-output-with-51-5-share"
  },
  {
   "date": "2026-08-19",
   "event": "A US adviser, Massad Boulos, says Washington is ready to help restart talks; none are scheduled.",
   "kind": "talks",
   "source": "Addis Standard via allAfrica, 19 Aug 2026 (citing Egypt Independent)",
   "url": "https://allafrica.com/stories/202608190601.html"
  },
  {
   "date": "2026-09-14",
   "event": "The utility's chief executive says GERD earned 52% of its export revenue.",
   "kind": "power",
   "source": "ENA via AllAfrica",
   "url": "https://allafrica.com/stories/202609150052.html"
  },
  {
   "date": "2026-10-25",
   "event": "At Cairo Water Week, Sisi says the Nile gives Egypt more than 98% of its renewable water; Ethiopia calls for hydro-diplomacy. No talks are under way.",
   "kind": "talks",
   "source": "Addis Standard via The Eastleigh Voice, 27 Oct 2026",
   "url": "https://eastleighvoice.co.ke/ethiopia/416505/ethiopia-calls-for-hydro-diplomacy-as-egypts-el-sisi-reiterates-water-security-is-a-red-line"
  },
  {
   "date": "2018-08-25",
   "kind": "build",
   "event": "Abiy Ahmed blames METEC, the army-run firm, for the delays: it has not installed a single turbine. Its contract is ended.",
   "source": "Africanews (2018-08-27)",
   "url": "https://www.africanews.com/2018/08/27/ethiopia-terminates-contract-of-state-firm-over-nile-dam-project-delays/"
  }
 ],
 "notes": [
  "Height: 145 m by the engineering accounts (ASCE, Tractebel); 170 m by the contractor, Webuild; 175 m at its deepest in the 2017 design paper. No source explains the gap. This page uses 145 m.",
  "Distance from the border: 14 to 45 km depending on the source. Natural Earth's border lies 12 km from the dam in a straight line, so this page says about 15 km.",
  "The lake's area: 1,874 km² (ASCE), 1,875 km² (Webuild), 1,904 km² (a 2024 satellite study). OpenStreetMap's outline covers 1,680 km², and this site's open-water measure peaks just under that: the flooded margins are not open water.",
  "Water held after each filling: Ethiopia gave volumes for 2020 and 2021 only, and its 2021 figure was the year's target. Satellite studies put the lake well below it after 2021 and slightly above it after 2022. From 2023 the only volumes come from engineering accounts and an Egyptian geologist.",
  "How many fillings: Abiy Ahmed called the 2023 filling the 'fourth and final'; a fifth followed in 2024.",
  "The Blue Nile's share of the Nile: 55–58% of the yearly flow at Aswan (FAO, Wheeler et al.), 68% in the flood season. The 85–86% often quoted, at the Security Council too, is the share of all the water that rises in Ethiopia.",
  "Cost: USD 4 bn to USD 5 bn, depending on the source; in birr, ETB 233 bn or 240 bn. Converting a birr total at one year's rate is misleading: the birr lost four-fifths of its dollar value while the money was spent.",
  "Foreign loans: Abiy Ahmed told parliament in February 2026 that GERD took not a single birr of foreign loans or aid. The 500 kV lines that carry its power were built on a USD 1.0 bn Chinese credit, listed in Ethiopia's own aid database; they are a separate project from the dam.",
  "Chinese money for the turbines: ENR, Brookings and Wikipedia say China's Exim bank paid for the turbines. No loan record supports this; it looks like a confusion with the credit for the lines.",
  "Who lent for the lines: Ethiopia's deputy prime minister named China's Exim bank in 2013. AidData records a supplier's credit from State Grid's CET, refinanced by China Construction Bank and ICBC. This page follows AidData.",
  "Turbines running: Tractebel said all 13 at the inauguration; an Egyptian geologist said in October 2025 that all had stopped, and an Egyptian ministry official in July 2026 that only six run. Ethiopia's utility says GERD made 51.5% of its power in 2025/26.",
  "The floods of September 2025: Egypt blames GERD's releases; Sudan's ministry pointed to the rain and the releases together; Ethiopia says GERD lowered the flood and the White Nile caused it. The altimeter shows Roseires and Lake Nasser, not the flows between them.",
  "Export earnings: the water minister spoke in March 2024 of over USD 1 bn in 18 months; the utility's own figures are USD 100 m to 140 m a year. This page uses the utility's.",
  "Roseires' capacity: 7.4 billion m³ after the 2013 heightening (Water Power Magazine), 5.9 billion m³ by UNEP's count at the Security Council. The difference may be live against total storage; no source says."
 ],
 "prose": {
  "contracts_prose": "Salini Impregilo, now Webuild, signed for the civil works in December 2010, three months before the dam was announced. The electromechanical works went to METEC, a firm run by the army; in August 2018, seven years in and with no turbine yet installed, Abiy Ahmed's new government took them away and split them in 2019 among GE, Voith, PowerChina and China Gezhouba. The design was cut from 16 turbines to 13 at the same time.",
  "crypto_prose": "Ethiopia legalised bitcoin mining in 2022, and the miners came for its cheap hydropower, paying in dollars. By the utility's own figures, data mining used 27% of the electricity Ethiopia consumed in 2024/25: enough to account for much of the jump in demand in the chart above. In August 2025 the utility stopped signing new miners; in September 2026, with a drought cutting hydro output, it cut the 31 operating ones to 23% of their contracted power."
 },
 "cbe": {
  "etb_bn": 223,
  "share": 91,
  "what": "Loans from the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia, the state-owned bank",
  "note": "Over 91% of the financing, by Capital Ethiopia's and StockMarket.et's count; no figure from the bank or the finance ministry was found.",
  "source": "Capital Ethiopia, 7 Sep 2025 (unnamed 'officials')",
  "url": "https://capitalethiopia.com/2025/09/07/great-ethiopian-renaissance-dam-completed-91-funded-by-cbe-oan/"
 },
 "earnings": [
  {
   "fy": "2022/23",
   "kind": "exports",
   "usd_m": 101.2,
   "source": "Fana BC, quoting Moges Mekonnen (EEP communications director)",
   "url": "https://www.fanamc.com/english/?p=52726"
  },
  {
   "fy": "2023/24",
   "kind": "exports",
   "usd_m": 140,
   "source": "Addis Fortune, 25 Jan 2025",
   "url": "https://addisfortune.news/ethiopia-tanzania-power-deal-signed-kenya-to-transmit"
  },
  {
   "fy": "2024/25",
   "kind": "exports",
   "usd_m": 118.1,
   "source": "2merkato, citing EEP",
   "url": "https://www.2merkato.com/news/energy-and-mining/8568-ethiopia-earns-usd-1181-million-from-regional-electricity-exports"
  },
  {
   "fy": "2025/26",
   "kind": "exports",
   "usd_m": 140,
   "source": "Kana Television, citing EEP figures",
   "url": "https://kanatelevision.com/news/ethiopian-electric-power-earned-usd475-5-million-in-foreign-currency-this-fiscal-year-data/"
  },
  {
   "fy": "2023/24",
   "kind": "miners",
   "usd_m": 25,
   "note": "From nine firms paying in dollars since December 2023.",
   "source": "2merkato, citing EEP, 28 Aug 2024",
   "url": "https://www.2merkato.com/news/energy-and-mining/8025-ethiopian-electric-power-nets-usd-25-million-from-data-mining-firms"
  },
  {
   "fy": "2024/25",
   "kind": "miners",
   "usd_m": 220,
   "note": "The utility's chief executive; industry sources say over USD 250 m.",
   "source": "The Reporter Ethiopia, 9 Aug 2025, quoting EEP CEO Asheber (Ashebir) Balcha",
   "url": "https://www.thereporterethiopia.com/46389/"
  },
  {
   "fy": "2025/26",
   "kind": "miners",
   "usd_m": 335.5,
   "note": "Data centres and crypto miners together.",
   "source": "Kana Television, 4 Aug 2026",
   "url": "https://kanatelevision.com/news/ethiopian-electric-power-earned-usd475-5-million-in-foreign-currency-this-fiscal-year-data/"
  }
 ],
 "progress": [
  {
   "date": "2013-08",
   "pct": 24,
   "said": "24% complete (GERD public-participation office)",
   "source": "Ethiopian Business Review",
   "url": "https://ethiopianbusinessreview.net/?p=4598"
  },
  {
   "date": "2016-04",
   "pct": 40.0,
   "said": "Just over 40% complete",
   "source": "Ethiopian Embassy Belgium (Semegnew Bekele)",
   "url": "https://ethiopianembassy.be/?p=7841"
  },
  {
   "date": "2016-11-17",
   "pct": 60.0,
   "said": "Close to 60% complete (project manager Simegnew Bekele)",
   "source": "Ethiopian Embassy Belgium",
   "url": "https://ethiopianembassy.be/?p=7841"
  },
  {
   "date": "2018-08-25",
   "pct": 60,
   "said": "Dam 60% finished, as METEC's contract is ended",
   "source": "Africanews",
   "url": "https://www.africanews.com/2018/08/27/ethiopia-terminates-contract-of-state-firm-over-nile-dam-project-delays/"
  },
  {
   "date": "2019-07-03",
   "pct": 67.9,
   "said": "67.9% overall; the main dam 80%",
   "source": "Ethiopian Embassy Belgium (Ephrem Woldekidan, deputy GM)",
   "url": "https://ethiopianembassy.be/?p=13336"
  },
  {
   "date": "2019-12-23",
   "pct": 70.0,
   "said": "70% complete, MPs visiting the site are told",
   "source": "Africanews",
   "url": "https://www.africanews.com/2019/12/23/nile-dam-ethiopia-reports-construction-progress-sudan-happy-with-negotiations/"
  },
  {
   "date": "2021-02-16",
   "pct": 78.3,
   "said": "78.3% complete (water minister Seleshi Bekele)",
   "source": "Ethiopian Embassy (US)",
   "url": "https://ethiopianembassy.org/gerd-to-see-completion-by-2023-minister-february-16-2021/"
  },
  {
   "date": "2022-02-20",
   "pct": 84,
   "said": "'More than 84%' complete at first power (project manager Kifle Horo)",
   "source": "Anadolu Agency",
   "url": "https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/ethiopias-5b-hydro-dam-on-nile-goes-operational/2507855"
  },
  {
   "date": "2022-08-12",
   "pct": 83,
   "said": "'More than 83 percent' complete (Kifle Horo, via AFP)",
   "source": "AFP via Phys.org",
   "url": "https://phys.org/news/2022-08-ethiopia-mega-dam-reservoir.html"
  },
  {
   "date": "2023-03-23",
   "pct": 90.0,
   "said": "90% complete (GERD office, on the 12th anniversary)",
   "source": "Fana Media Corporation",
   "url": "https://www.fanamc.com/english/?p=42633"
  },
  {
   "date": "2024-04-02",
   "pct": 95.8,
   "said": "95.8% complete (deputy prime minister Temesgen Tiruneh)",
   "source": "Fana Media Corporation",
   "url": "https://www.fanamc.com/english/?p=58871"
  },
  {
   "date": "2025-04-12",
   "pct": 98.66,
   "said": "98.66% complete, six units running (cabinet statement)",
   "source": "Libyan Express",
   "url": "https://www.libyanexpress.com/?p=58602"
  },
  {
   "date": "2025-07-03",
   "pct": 100,
   "said": "Abiy Ahmed tells parliament the dam is complete",
   "source": "AFP via Arab News",
   "url": "https://www.arabnews.com/world/ethiopias-pm-says-nile-mega-dam-now-complete-2606744"
  }
 ],
 "impacts": [
  {
   "id": "grid",
   "place": "Ethiopia's grid",
   "lon": 38.75,
   "lat": 9.02,
   "dir": "benefit",
   "ev": "measured",
   "see": "power",
   "text": "(computed from Ember and the World Bank)",
   "source": "Ember; World Bank",
   "url": "https://ember-energy.org/data/yearly-electricity-data/"
  },
  {
   "id": "resettled",
   "place": "Guba and the lake's shores",
   "lon": 35.42,
   "lat": 11.02,
   "dir": "harm",
   "ev": "research",
   "see": "lake",
   "text": "About 20,000 people, 5,391 households living below 645 m, were to be moved from 14 places into 17 new villages. Researchers found some settled along the road without water; regional leaders expected 80% of Guba district to go under.",
   "source": "Vaughan and Gebremichael, FutureDAMS working paper 010, 2020",
   "url": "https://hummedia.manchester.ac.uk/institutes/gdi/publications/workingpapers/futuredams/futuredams-working-paper-010-vaughan.pdf"
  },
  {
   "id": "evaporation",
   "place": "Nigat Lake",
   "lon": 35.5,
   "lat": 10.45,
   "dir": "harm",
   "ev": "research",
   "see": "downstream",
   "text": "When full, the lake loses about 1.7 billion m³ a year to evaporation, water no one downstream receives; a lower Lake Nasser loses 1.1 billion m³ less.",
   "source": "Wheeler et al. 2020, Nature Communications",
   "url": "https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-19089-x"
  },
  {
   "id": "djibouti",
   "place": "Djibouti",
   "lon": 43.15,
   "lat": 11.59,
   "dir": "benefit",
   "ev": "measured",
   "see": "exports",
   "text": "(computed from Ember)",
   "source": "Ember; World Bank",
   "url": "https://search.worldbank.org/api/v2/projects?format=json&id=P173763"
  },
  {
   "id": "kenya",
   "place": "Kenya",
   "lon": 36.33,
   "lat": -1.05,
   "dir": "benefit",
   "ev": "measured",
   "see": "exports",
   "text": "(computed from Ember)",
   "source": "Green Building Africa, 3 Aug 2022",
   "url": "https://www.greenbuildingafrica.co.za/ethiopia-signs-ppa-to-export-200mw-to-kenya/",
   "source2": "Capital Ethiopia, Eyasu Zekarias, 10 Jul 2026",
   "url2": "https://capitalethiopia.com/2026/07/10/kenya-power-to-pay-15-5-cents-per-kwh-in-newly-finalized-ethiopia-energy-deal/"
  },
  {
   "id": "tanzania",
   "place": "Tanzania",
   "lon": 35.75,
   "lat": -6.17,
   "dir": "benefit",
   "ev": "measured",
   "see": "exports",
   "text": "Buys 100 MW from Ethiopia through Kenya's grid, under a three-way deal signed in January 2025; supply began on trial in 2024/25.",
   "source": "Addis Fortune, 25 Jan 2025",
   "url": "https://addisfortune.news/ethiopia-tanzania-power-deal-signed-kenya-to-transmit"
  },
  {
   "id": "roseires_says",
   "place": "Roseires and Sudan's Blue Nile dams",
   "lon": 34.39,
   "lat": 11.8,
   "dir": "benefit",
   "ev": "claimed",
   "see": "downstream",
   "text": "Sudan counts flood control and an even flow through the year among GERD's benefits, if it is told how the dam is run. These dams water 70% of its irrigation schemes and make almost 40% of its power.",
   "source": "UN Security Council, S/PV.8816",
   "url": "https://documents.un.org/api/symbol/access?s=S/PV.8816&l=en&t=pdf"
  },
  {
   "id": "roseires_level",
   "place": "Head of the Roseires reservoir",
   "lon": 34.9,
   "lat": 11.24,
   "dir": "disputed",
   "ev": "measured",
   "see": "downstream",
   "text": "(computed from G-REALM)",
   "source": "NASA G-REALM",
   "url": "https://earth.gsfc.nasa.gov/gwm/lake/Index"
  },
  {
   "id": "floods2025",
   "place": "The Blue Nile in Sudan, September 2025",
   "lon": 34.0,
   "lat": 12.75,
   "dir": "disputed",
   "ev": "claimed",
   "see": "downstream",
   "text": "Egypt blames GERD's sudden releases for floods in Sudan; Sudan's ministry pointed to heavy rain and the releases together; Ethiopia says GERD lowered the flood and the White Nile caused it.",
   "source": "Ahram Online, 4 Oct 2025 and 22 Nov 2025",
   "url": "https://english.ahram.org.eg/News/557329.aspx"
  },
  {
   "id": "floodplain",
   "place": "Blue Nile floodplain, Sennar to Khartoum",
   "lon": 33.62,
   "lat": 13.55,
   "dir": "harm",
   "ev": "claimed",
   "see": "downstream",
   "text": "Sudan says GERD could halve the floodplain its farmers plant as the flood recedes.",
   "source": "UN Security Council, S/PV.8816",
   "url": "https://documents.un.org/api/symbol/access?s=S/PV.8816&l=en&t=pdf"
  },
  {
   "id": "gezira",
   "place": "Gezira scheme",
   "lon": 33.0,
   "lat": 14.4,
   "dir": "benefit",
   "ev": "research",
   "see": "downstream",
   "text": "A model of the Nile finds that once GERD evens out the Blue Nile, Sudan loses less to floods and silt and gains water for summer irrigation in the Gezira scheme.",
   "source": "Wheeler et al. 2020, Nature Communications",
   "url": "https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-19089-x"
  },
  {
   "id": "khartoum",
   "place": "Khartoum",
   "lon": 32.53,
   "lat": 15.6,
   "dir": "harm",
   "ev": "claimed",
   "see": "downstream",
   "text": "Sudan says the 2020 filling, made without notice, shut Khartoum's water stations for over three days; in July 2026 a sudden cut in releases left a drinking-water intake south of Omdurman above the waterline.",
   "source": "UN Security Council, S/PV.8816",
   "url": "https://documents.un.org/api/symbol/access?s=S/PV.8816&l=en&t=pdf",
   "source2": "Ahram Online, 'GERD data blackout forces Sudan dam operators to take precautions: Sewilam', 22 Jul 2026",
   "url2": "https://english.ahram.org.eg/News/573300.aspx"
  },
  {
   "id": "merowe",
   "place": "Merowe dam",
   "lon": 32.05,
   "lat": 18.67,
   "dir": "benefit",
   "ev": "research",
   "see": "downstream",
   "text": "(computed from Ember)",
   "source": "Wheeler et al. 2020; Ember",
   "url": "https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-19089-x"
  },
  {
   "id": "nasser",
   "place": "Lake Nasser and the Aswan High Dam",
   "lon": 32.9,
   "lat": 23.2,
   "dir": "disputed",
   "ev": "measured",
   "see": "downstream",
   "text": "(computed from G-REALM and Ember)",
   "source": "NASA G-REALM; Ember; Wheeler et al. 2020",
   "url": "https://earth.gsfc.nasa.gov/gwm/lake/Index",
   "source2": "Wheeler et al. 2020, Nature Communications",
   "url2": "https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-19089-x"
  },
  {
   "id": "egypt",
   "place": "Egypt's Nile Valley and Delta",
   "lon": 31.2,
   "lat": 30.3,
   "dir": "harm",
   "ev": "claimed",
   "see": "downstream",
   "text": "Egypt, which takes 97% of its water from the Nile, says shortages could add up to 120 billion m³ without a binding agreement on filling and operation. A peer-reviewed model finds the risk low in average years; had a 1980s-style drought struck during the filling, it would have added 46 billion m³ to Egypt's shortfall over 20 years.",
   "source": "UN Security Council, S/PV.8816",
   "url": "https://documents.un.org/api/symbol/access?s=S/PV.8816&l=en&t=pdf",
   "source2": "Wheeler et al. 2020, Nature Communications",
   "url2": "https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-19089-x"
  }
 ]
}