Ethiopia on Tuesday officially inaugurated the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), Africa’s largest hydroelectric power project, marking a major milestone in the country’s efforts to expand electricity access and bolster economic growth.

The $5 billion (£3.7 billion) project, built on the Blue Nile in Ethiopia’s Guba district near the Sudanese border, has been more than a decade in the making. With the activation of its final turbines, the dam has now reached its maximum generating capacity of 5,150 megawatts—placing it among the 20 largest hydroelectric facilities in the world. By comparison, this figure is roughly a quarter of the output of China’s massive Three Gorges Dam.

At the inauguration ceremony, a fighter jet flew over the cascading waters of the dam, which plunge 170 meters (558 feet) into the river below. The event was attended by regional leaders, including the presidents of Somalia, Djibouti, and Kenya.

Speaking beneath a canopy shaped like Ethiopia and decorated in the national colors, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed framed the dam as a symbol of hope and progress. “To our Sudanese and Egyptian brothers: Ethiopia built the dam to prosper, to electrify the entire region, and to change the history of black people,” Abiy declared. “It is absolutely not to harm its brothers.”

For Ethiopia, the dam is central to long-term development ambitions. The country, home to more than 120 million people, has long struggled with energy shortages, with millions lacking reliable access to electricity. Authorities say GERD will not only address domestic needs but also enable Ethiopia to export surplus power to neighboring countries, boosting regional integration and economic ties.

However, the project continues to fuel diplomatic strains with downstream Egypt and Sudan, which rely heavily on Nile waters for agriculture and livelihoods. Both countries have voiced concerns that GERD could reduce water flows and threaten their water security, despite Ethiopia’s assurances that the dam is designed to benefit the wider region.

With the GERD now fully operational, Ethiopia has positioned itself as a key energy hub in Africa. Yet the challenge of balancing its developmental goals with regional cooperation on shared water resources remains unresolved, keeping the project at the center of one of Africa’s most delicate geopolitical disputes.