﻿Top 10 largest Dams in Africa.
Since the beginning of time, man has been building dams to keep water in rivers for
irrigation and to meet residential water demands. More recently, the increased
need for energy has fueled the need for dams to support industrial growth and light dwellings.
Africa's resources have been strained as a result of expanding population and a drive
toward industrialisation, and the need for water is no exception. According to a recent count,
there are 980 big dams in Sub-Saharan Africa, with roughly 589 of them in South Africa,
including Africa's largest dams. In the recent decade, Africa has seen a renaissance in the
construction of huge dams to provide more regulated water and create hydroelectricity.
The majority of these dams are found along the Nile, specifically in Ethiopia.
Ethiopia's choice becomes all too evident when you consider the country's rugged terrain and number
of rivers, both of which provide great areas for dam construction. Ethiopia's potential for
harnessing its hydro potential was estimated to be only 1% at the turn of the millennium,
implying that many more dams will be built in the future. Some think that the country is on
the verge of becoming Africa's powerhouse. Meanwhile, Africa's largest hydroelectric
dam is under construction in Ethiopia, and Africa's largest Arch Dam is already built.
It is definitely not by chance that the country is known as Africa's water tower.
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10. Katse Dam, Lesotho
The Katse Dam, a concrete arch dam on the Malibamatso River in Lesotho,
was built in Southern Africa to help alleviate South Africa's water issue. The dam, which is
part of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project, is Africa's second largest double-curvature arch dam,
inferior only to the Tekezé Dam. The dam is located immediately below the junction
of the Bokong River and the Katse reservoir's western arm. The dam's water first passes via
a 45-kilometer, 4-meter-diameter tunnel before exiting at a hydroelectric facility at Muela.
Because to the dam's high height, a gravity flow delivery system to South Africa is possible.
9. Merowe Dam, Sudan
Sudan finished the Merowe Dam on the Nile less than a decade ago.
The Merowe Dam and Hydropower Plant is located 350 kilometers north of Khartoum on the Nile River.
It is Sudan's largest hydroelectric project, with a cumulative installed capacity of 1,250 MW,
composed of ten Francis turbines, each with a capacity of 125MW and generating more than 6,500
GWh of energy annually. The dam is approximately 9 kilometers long and has a crest height of up to
67 meters. During probable maximum flood conditions, the spillway may discharge
19,900 m3/s. The embankment dam is made up of a 5.9-kilometer-long concrete face rockfill dam, the
world's longest concrete face rockfill dam. 8. The Bujagali Dam, Uganda
The dam, Uganda's largest hydroelectric dam, has been in operation since 2012. The
power station is located 1,100 meters above sea level near Bujagali Falls,
about eight kilometers north of Lake Victoria, and its source is the Nile.
The low-pressure river power plan comprises of five 50MW turbines and a spillway with gates that
will be commissioned in stages between February and June 2012. 750,000m3 is the volume for this.
The project cost estimate has been raised from $530 million to $900 million. A 97km transmission
line parallel to the lines of Kampala and Owen Falls connects to a new substation at
Kawanda.During the construction of the project, over 2000 jobs were created. Bujagali Energy
will operate the facility for 30 years before handing it over to the Ugandan government.
7. The Tekeze Dam, Ethiopia The Tekezé Dam, located on the
boundary of Ethiopia's Amhara and Tigray regions, is a double-curvature arch dam.
It is Africa's 7th biggest reservoir, having taken seven years to construct and open in 2009.
The 188m Tekezé Dam is Africa's largest/tallest double-curvature arch dam, built on the Tekezé
River, a tributary of the Nile that flows through one of the world's deepest gorges. The powerhouse
has four 75 megawatt turbines that generate 300 megawatts of electricity, however it only
produces one-twentieth of the hydropower generated by its bigger brother, the Grand Renaissance Dam.
6. The Kainji Dam, Nigeria Kainji Dam is the sixth largest dam in Africa
and a 7.2 km long gravity dam on the river Niger. It was completed in four years and opened in 1968.
The hydroelectric plant at the dam was intended to generate 960MW of electricity.
It's rather unfortunate that only 8 of the planned 12 turbines were installed, resulting in
a lower capacity. The plant currently has a 760MW capacity. The dam formed Lake Kainji, Nigeria's
largest man-made lake, measuring 135 kilometers long and 30 kilometers wide at its widest point.
The lake is open all year for fishing and farming, but with heavy rains, the dam releases water,
which can flood the farms it supports. The project supplies power to all of Nigeria's major cities,
although not in the expected numbers. Some power is sold to Niger, a neighboring country.
5. The Akosombo Dam, Ghana The Akosombo dam in Ghana is one of the most
impressive reservoirs in Africa. It is the third largest dam in terms of water storage capacity.
This dam, established on the Volta River, creates Lake Volta, the world's largest
reservoir by surface area at 8,500km2. Six turbo generating units, each rated at 128,000 kW,
make up the dam's power plant. The turbines generate 912 megawatts of electricity, but
the dam also serves as a flood control structure. The lake holds 144 billion cubic meters of water.
The rock-fill embankment dam has a crest length of approximately 700 meters
and a height of 134 meters, with a total surface excavation of 12 million cubic meters.
It was created between 1961 and 1966 primarily to generate electricity, but the lake's fisheries
also provide a source of income for almost 300,000 people. The Volta River is well-known as
a trade and transport junction. The Volta River Authority owns the dam, and IMPREGILO-Italy was
the main construction contractor. 4. The Inga dams, DR Congo
The Inga Dams are two single dams in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Inga 1 (generating 351 MW) and Inga 2 (1,424 MW). They were built in 1972 and 1982, respectively,
as part of the dictator Sese Sekko Mobutu's disastrous industrial development project.
The two dams now function at a capacity of 50% since in recent years they have not been
properly maintained. The two dams are located on the Congo River in the west of the DRC,
225 kilometers (140 miles) southwest of Kinshasa. The Congolese government intends to
begin construction on the Inga 3 hydroelectric plant, a 4,800 MW facility that will cost 13
billion euros ($14 billion). 3. Gibe III Dam, Ethiopia.
The prime minister, Hailemariam Desalegne, finally opened the 243-meter (800-foot) Gibe III
dam on the Omo River on December 17th 2016, after years of delays, mostly owing to budget problems.
The Gibe-III-Dam lies 350 kilometers (155 miles) southwest of Addis Abeba,
Ethiopia's capital. It generates 1,870 MW in total and is Africa's third largest dam,
standing at 243 meters (797 feet). The project started in 2007 and ended in 2016.
At the flick of a switch, its hydroelectric project has the ability to treble the country's
meager energy output. At the flick of a switch, the Gibe III dam has the capacity
to double the country's electrical output. Ethiopia, dubbed "Africa's water tower," has long
sought to harness the power of the rivers that flow from its highlands. Flagship dam projects
were crucial to modernization programs devised by the Italian administration from 1936 to 1941,
as well as by the former emperor, Haile Selassie, in the 1960s. Gibe III is the
latest in a succession of dams being built by the government along the Omo River,
which was simultaneously building what is now Africa's largest-ever dam when it opened last
year(2020). Which is?: You guessed right!!! the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile.
These projects are designed to transform Ethiopia, which has a scarcity of resources but a massive
hydropower potential, into a renewable-energy exporter. Gibe III is expected to create enough
electricity to power the entire country of Kenya, which has excitedly agreed to purchase
some of its power. The export profits would help Ethiopia close its huge current-account imbalance,
while the cheap power will provide its budding manufacturing sector a much-needed boost. The
Gibe III dam, as its name suggests, is part of the Gibe cascade, and the Gibe IV (1472 MW) and Gibe V
(560MW) dams are also planned. 2. The Aswan High Dam, Egypt
The Aswan Dam, or, more particularly, the Aswan High Dam from the 1960s,
is the world's largest embankment dam, built across the Nile in Aswan, Egypt,
between 1960 and 1968 and opened in 1971. The dam was built with a total investment of $1 billion.
The rock-fill dam is located on the Egyptian-Sudanese border,
and it is fed by the Nile River, with the reservoir forming Lake Nasser.
The Hydroproject Institute in Moscow designed the Aswan Dam.
The Aswan High Dam, with a reservoir capacity of 132 km3, supplies water to approximately
33,600 km2 of agricultural area. It meets Egypt's and Sudan's irrigation demands,
manages flooding, generates power, and helps in improving navigation across the Nile.The
dam was built to control the flow of the river, which supplies water to the entire country of
Egypt. The Nile is flooded every year, with over half of the water being wastedly drained
into the sea. For the first time in history, man has the ability to control the yearly Nile flood.
The dam impounds floodwaters, releasing them only when necessary to maximize
their utility on irrigated land, nearly doubling agricultural yield,
to water hundreds of thousands of new acres, to improve navigation both above and below Aswn,
benefiting the tourism and fishing industries, and to generate massive amounts of electricity
(the dam's 12 turbines can generate 10 billion kilowatt-hours). Also, the fishing
industry is sustained by the reservoir, which has a depth of 300 feet (90 meters)
and a breadth of 14 miles (22 kilometers). The Aswan High Dam benefits Egypt's economy
greatly, but also has various detrimental side effects, the most significant of which is a
progressive deterioration in the fertility and thus production of Egypt's riverfront
agricultural fields. This is due to the dam's complete control over the annual flooding of
the Nile. Much of the floodwaters, together with their load of rich fertilizing silt, are
now trapped in reservoirs and canals, and the silt is no longer deposited on farmlands by the Nile's
increasing waves. Egypt's annual application of around 1 million tons of synthetic fertilizers
is insufficient to replace the 40 million tons of silt deposited annually by the Nile flood.
1. The Grand Renaissance Dam in Ethiopia The Grand Renaissance Dam in Ethiopia, which is
located near the Sudanese border on the Blue Nile, is currently Africa's largest dam, as we all know.
It was previously known as the Millennium Dam. It is Ethiopia's most significant project to date,
and it has the distinction of being Africa's largest dam,
providing a phenomenal 6000MW of electrical energy annually at a cost of US $6.4 billion. Its
construction began in 2011 and is still ongoing. The reservoir, which holds almost 63 billion
square meters (68 billion square feet) of water, is one of the continent's largest.
It has a total area of 1,680 square kilometers (650 square miles).
The dam's walls are 145 meters (475 feet) high and 1,800 meters (5,900 feet) long. The
main dam is made of roller compacted concrete (RCC), a mix of regular concrete and fly ash.
The mix is drier and has no droop since the method requires less water. It is trucked in and spread
out by bulldozers before being compacted with vibrating rollers. When completed, the Grand
Ethiopian Renaissance Dam will be Africa's largest dam, measuring 1,800 meters in length, 155 meters
in height, and holding 74,000 million cubic meters of water. The dam includes a 15000 cubic meter per
second spillway and a 5-kilometer-long, 50-meter-high rockfill saddle dam.
The dam's generating capacity will be provided by 16 Francis turbines housed in two power plants,
one on each bank of the river, producing 15000GWh per year.
The dam will be able to handle a flood of
19,370 cubic meters per second, reducing alluvium by 100 million cubic meters and facilitating
irrigation of about 500,000 hectares of new agricultural land in Sudan.
Upon completion, it will also minimize flooding in Sudan by around 40 kilometers. The dam's major
objective is to generate electricity in order to alleviate Ethiopia's severe energy constraint and
to sell electricity to neighboring nations. In July 2020, work on filling the reservoir began.
It will take approximately 4 to 7 years to fill with water, depending on hydrologic conditions
and agreements negotiated between Ethiopia, Sudan, and Egypt during the filling period.
These major infrastructure projects, as well as those in various stages of planning,
which promise to alter the lives of millions of Africans, have not been without controversy.
Dams have been under fire in recent years for their severe environmental impact,
as seen by the displacement of communities and the submergence of vast swaths of fertile land.
Furthermore, its sustainability has been called into doubt due to shifting weather patterns,
which leave hydropower-dependent countries without energy during droughts due to empty reservoirs.
Furthermore, in recent years, conflict over water
supplies has increased the genuine potential of war between nations.
The most prominent is the one between Ethiopia and the Nile-dependent countries of Sudan and Egypt,
whose livelihoods are jeopardized by the prospect of less water in the Nile's flood plains.
In general, for such undertakings it will be rare not to cause controversy, although necessary.
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