The Hydropolitics of the Nile Basin

   Formerly known as the Millennium Dam , The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam is one of the most impactful, yet controversial, megaprojects in the Nile Basin Region. In September a major milestone was reached, the completion of the dam's fourth and final water filling stage, meaning the project is just over 90% complete after 12 long years of construction. Ethiopia's main motivator for undertaking such a project is the huge potential supply of hydroelectric energy following the dam's compeltion, which the nation sorely needs (Djomo et al., 2021) . Once fully constructed, the dam will have the capacity to generate 6450 MW of electricity, making it the largest hydroelectric power plant in Africa and the tenth largest on the planet  (Djomo et al., 2021) . Ethiopia has historically struggled with electricity production and in recent decades has regularly had to schedule temporary blackouts in order to preserve electricity stores in the grid (Carlsson et al., 2020) . This pro...