The Merowe Dam and its Hydropower Plant in Sudan
Failer, E.; El-Hadari, M.H.; Mutaz, M.A.S.
Wasserwirtschaft 101(1-2): 10-16
2011
ISSN/ISBN: 0043-0978 Document Number: 240087
The Merowe Dam and its hydropower plant is located on the Nile about 350 km north of Khartoum and about 550 km upstream of the Aswan High Dam in Egypt. This project has been designed to serve several purposes, namely: the generation of electricity by the ten generating units of its 1 250 MW hydropower plant, the supply of water to centralized agricultural irrigation schemes (about 380 000 ha) and the protection against the high floods of the Nile. In 2010 the Merowe hydropower plant generated more than 60 % of Sudans's electricity consumption. Furthermore, the Merowe Dam will act as a sediment trap, reducing the sedimentation of the Aswan High Dam further downstream in Egypt. Due to the fact that more than 90 % of the reservoir area is desert land, "only" about 6 000 ha of agricultural land has been submerged. Therefore, there is only a very limited amount of biomass in the reservoir area, which results in the very low CO2 emissions.