Ruto seals deal for Ethiopian power, offers to mend Nile Rift
National
By
Mactilda Mbenywe
| Sep 11, 2025
Kenya will buy electricity from Ethiopia’s Grand Renaissance Dam under a new power deal, President William Ruto announced at the dam’s inauguration.
He also offered to mediate between Ethiopia, Egypt, and Sudan as as tensions over the dam’s impact on Nile waters deepen.
“I came here to witness a project that symbolizes Africa’s determination to power its own future,” Ruto said during the inauguration.
An event that was attended by Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh, Mohamud Djiboutian President Ismail Omar Guelleh and South Sudanese President Salva Kiir, Ethiopian officials, and African Union Commission Chairperson Mahmoud Ali Youssouf.
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Ruto added that Kenya is “ready to buy power from Ethiopia” to meet its growing energy demand. Kenya currently produces about 3,300 megawatts of electricity, with geothermal making up the largest share.
Yet, demand is projected to rise sharply, and Addis Ababa’s 5,150 MW megastructure could provide a cheaper regional supply.
The $5 billion GERD is Africa’s largest hydropower dam and ranks among the 20 biggest in the world.
Its 74 billion cubic meters of storage can hold more than the volume of Lake Tana. Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed hailed it as a historic turning point.
“The dam was not built to harm its brothers,” he said, referring to Egypt and Sudan, “but to electrify the region and change lives.”
But the celebrations in Ethiopia contrasted with unease in Cairo and Khartoum.Neither Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi nor Sudanese leaders attended.
Egypt depends on the Nile for 97 percent of its water and fears that prolonged drought combined with the dam’s filling could cut flows downstream.
Sisi has described GERD as an “existential threat” and warned, “Whoever thinks Egypt will turn a blind eye to its water rights is mistaken.”
Sudan has taken a more mixed position. It joined Egypt in labeling Ethiopia’s filling of the dam “unilateral” and a “continuous threat to stability.” At the same time, Sudanese engineers acknowledge that GERD already reduced flooding at the 60-year-old Roseires Dam, 110 km downstream.
Abdullah Abderrahman, Roseires’ administration manager, said GERD has curbed excessive overflow and lowered silt build-up that once reduced Roseires’ storage capacity by a third.
Ethiopia insists the project is a sovereign right.
Financing came largely from within the country: 91 percent from the central bank and the rest from Ethiopians through bond sales and donations.
Since construction began in 2011, more than 25,000 people worked on site. Italian firm Webuild oversaw the construction. “This dam regulates water and brings an additional benefit to neighbors,” CEO Pietro Sali.
Independent studies back claims that downstream flow has not yet been disrupted, thanks to careful reservoir filling during rainy seasons.
But uncertainties remain. The massive reservoir , has changed the balance of water politics in Africa. Egypt argues that historic treaties give it priority over Nile waters, but Ethiopia rejects agreements made under colonial rule.
Abiy called the dam a project of “collective advancement” and urged neighbors to view it as a shared asset.
Still, mistrust lingers. Cairo has tightened relations with Eritrea and Somalia to counterbalance Ethiopia. Talks under African Union mediation have stalled for years. No legally binding framework governs how GERD will be filled and operated in dry years, a sticking point for Egypt and Sudan.
“Africa’s prosperity will not be built on suspicion but on cooperation,” Ruto said.
The GERD shows Ethiopia’s strategy of energy-led development. Nearly half of Ethiopia’s 120 million people lack reliable electricity.
The government hopes surplus energy sales to Kenya, Sudan, and Djibouti will generate export earnings. Already, Ethiopia supplies about 400 MW to Sudan and Djibouti. With GERD fully operational, exports could rise dramatically.
President Salva Kiir said "South Sudan will sign a power agreement to receive electricity from the dam. This will bring power to our towns, villages, schools, and hospitals"
Construction of the 5,150-megawatt hydropower project began in 2011 on the Blue Nile River near the Sudanese border.
The Blue Nile, known as the Abay River in Ethiopia, originates from Lake Tana about 570 km north of Addis Ababa and is one of the Nile River's two main tributaries