Hydroelectric power in Africa

The Nile may be the world’s longest river, making it among Africa’s best prospective types of hydropower.

From the resource in the African Great Lakes to its delta in Egypt, the Nile travels for nearly 7, 000 kilometres through habitats including hills, exotic woodlands, wilderness, savannahs and wetlands, some of which are full of biodiversity. Its drainage basin covers about a tenth of Africa’s land area and it is shared by 11 nations.

For thousands of years, men and women residing near the river have depended about it. Agriculture is rolling out in equilibrium with rainfall habits, and individuals have built tiny dams to harness the river’s liquid for crop irrigation. More recently, governments have started utilising the river to make electrical energy.

“Researchers should study just how a region’s liquid pattern integrates with biodiversity and regional people’s resides, and factor their conclusions into the suggested design.”

But despite its size, the Nile carries relatively little liquid given that it often flows through arid places where there's small rainfall or water-flowing through the ground. The river’s biodiversity is also vulnerable to climate modification: rising temperatures tend to be modifying the Nile’s regular rounds, making droughts much more likely including increasing evaporation from its ponds.

Whenever preparing a sizable hydroelectric dam on a major lake including the Nile, environmental elements such as for instance these have to be considered, despite the danger this will hinder work or boost in advance prices. Researchers should study exactly how a region’s liquid pattern combines with biodiversity and neighborhood people’s life, and factor their results to the proposed design.

Producing ecological tests that adhere to worldwide requirements might help minimize a few of the conflicts connected with dam projects, like those concerning changes to water circulation. Tests have now been performed for the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), a huge hydropower plant being built on the Blue Nile, one of the river’s two primary tributaries. But experts say the tests lack information and neglect to meet international requirements.