The Blue Treasure

In the heart of Ethiopia, the landscape opens onto an immense expanse of water, framed by mountains and the essential lines of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). Here, nature and engineering coexist on an extraordinary scale. The dam blends into the crystalline waters, while the vast reservoir reflects the sky and surrounding mountains: GERD was born from this balance between strength and precision. It is a monumental work, capable of holding billions of cubic meters of water and transforming that potential into energy, yet built through countless carefully executed operations. More than 25,000 people contributed to the construction of this infrastructure, designed to double the country’s power generation capacity and extend the reach of electricity well beyond its borders.

And yet everything takes shape from scenes like this: water flowing quietly while, around it, an engineering masterpiece of extraordinary scale comes into view: a megaproject built by Webuild and inaugurated at the end of 2025.

Facts & Figures

GERD is the largest hydroelectric project in Africa

Main dam: 1,800 m and 170 m

RCC concrete: 10.7 million m³

Secondary dam: approximately 5,000 m

Secondary dam rockfill: approximately 15.3 million m³

Reservoir capacity: approximately 74 billion m³

Reservoir surface area: approximately 1,875 km²

Two hydroelectric powerhouses

13 Francis turbines

Installed capacity: 5,150 MW

Expected annual generation: approximately 15,700 GWh

Energy impact: enough capacity to double Ethiopia’s electricity generation