MAJOR SUB-REGIONAL WATER SYSTEMS AND HYDROPOWER DEVELOPMENT IN EASTERN AFRICA DEVELOPMENT IN EASTERN AFRICA

5.2.1 Nile River and Hydropower Development

The Nile, the world’s longest river, flows for 6,850 Km, and covers ten countries:

Burundi, the D.R. Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, the Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. The Nile, due to its length and climatic variety, is one of the most complex river systems in the world. Its main sources are the Blue Nile, which arises from Lake Tana in Ethiopia, and the White Nile, which arises from Lake Victoria in Uganda. Some countries, such as Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, Sudan and Egypt are highly-dependent on the river, while for others, such as D.R. Congo the Nile’s water constitutes only a small part of their resources.

Egypt and the Sudan use the Nile’s water mainly for agriculture purposes; 80% of water in Egypt is directed to this sector. The Nile is not only a water reserve for its riparian States, it is also a fundamental waterway. In the Sudan, it is the only practicable way to navigate across

31 See (www.worldenergy.org, 2007).

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regions during the flood season from May to November. Nile water is also used for production of hydroelectric power, especially in Ethiopia (Sinnona, 2007).

If all the Nile Basin Countries are taken into account, their hydropower potential is estimated at 140,000 MW. The D.R. Congo alone is considered to have a potential of 100,000 MW, with approximately is 40,000 MW concentrated in the INGA complex from the Congo River; Ethiopia has a hydropower potential of 45,000 MW. Figure 95 shows the energy from hydropower for the Nile basin countries, excluding D.R. Congo.

Figure 95: Energy generation potential and realized for the Nile basin countries.

Source: Kanangire, 2008.

While the sub-regional hydropower potential is considerable, especially for D.R.

Congo and Ethiopia, the current approach is that each country is attempting to develop its hydropower resources autonomously. Whereas they face challenges for collaboration, there are examples of countries jointly building hydropower plants such as Burundi, Rwanda and D.R. Congo on the Ruzizi through collaborated, despite the challenges.

With regards to small hydropower developments, which are of importance to rural power supply, while most of the countries have recognized their role, particularly for rural electrification through small/mini hydropower development, progress has been limited. The reasons cited mostly are lack of access to relevant technologies and limited financial resources.

The central water and energy management challenge for the Nile River Basin, as in many other river basins throughout the world, is sustainability of water supply in the context of population growth, recurring drought and increasing competition for water. The issues get complicated as a result of global climate change. As a result, the demand for the Nile water is expected to increase significantly. Some of the basin states, such as Ethiopia, Kenya,

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Tanzania and Uganda have already experienced critical water shortages due to extreme events such as recurring droughts. Shortage of water occurs when the needed amount of quality water is not available at the right time and place of need. Shortage due to drought represents physical shortage. On the other hand shortage can happen due to contamination of the available water. In this case the water can become degraded to an extent it is not safe for human consumption. Considering a threshold value of 1000 cu m per person per year, it is projected that some of the Nile Basin countries: Burundi, Rwanda, Egypt, Ethiopia and Kenya will be considered as water “scarce” by 2025. This is based on a continuous population growth of the basin. If the present trend continues, water shortage is likely to materialize and impacting socio-economic development and increasing the potential for water conflict (Yitayew and Melesse, 2010). The main strain on the Nile water resource comes from Egypt’s unilateral development of new areas such as the Toshca project to expand irrigated areas to establish claims for prior appropriation rights. Equally, Ethiopia’s unilateral decision to build the Renaissance Dam is a challenge for water governance.

The historical hydro-climatology studies show the variability in flow of the Nile both in time and space. Unless there is a way to regulate this flow condition, it is difficult to plan a meaningful sustainable water resources and energy development program. This is particularly true when one consider hydropower development. It is also apparent that in a basin as big as the Nile, a concerted effort to gather data to forecast the hydrologic and climatologic variables is absolutely necessary. Effective Nile water governance must consider integrated basin-wide hydraulic cooperation in parallel with the rest of the effort to bring the riparian countries to work together with a shared vision of benefiting socio-economically and politically.

Until recently, most of the agreements on the Nile Basin were made either between colonizers or bilateral agreement between the Sudan and Egypt. The 1990s has been one where substantial effort has been invested by the riparian States themselves and by the donor agencies to develop confidence and vision for the future which is based on cooperation, consideration for the environment and the efficient use of water. Despite the intense pressure for cooperation driven by demographics, sustainable development needs, water and food security, economic integration and climate change, there is no reliable established framework for governance of the water and energy resource of the Nile basin to attain the shared vision of benefiting socio-economically and politically that is accepted by all the riparian countries. The present challenge for cooperation stems from conflicting agricultural water demands mainly from the Eastern Nile countries. All have yet to agree on equitable and reasonable use of the water.

5.2.2 The Congo River and Hydropower Development

The Congo River is the ninth largest river in the world at 3,100 km. It originates in Zambia, flows north into Lake Bangwelu and then Lake Mweru. The Luvua flows north out of Lake Mweru and joins the Lualabu, which is a major tributary of the Congo. The Congo flows southeast into the Atlantic Ocean. It has the highest potential for hydropower of any river in the world. The basin contains 30% of the fresh surface water in Africa, and the discharge at Kinshasa and Brazzaville is 1,269 km3/y (UNECA, 2000). There are many tributaries on both sides of the Equator, tehrefore the rainy season alternates in different parts of the basin, providing a fairly constant yearly flow in the Congo.

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Figure 96: The water basin of D.R. Congo.

The Congo River basin is the second largest in the world with an area of 3.7 million km2. Nine countries make the Congo River basin: the D. R. Congo , the Central African Republic, Angola, the Republic of Congo, Tanzania, Zambia, Cameroon, Burundi and Rwanda.

Approximately 29 million people live in the basin, which includes 250 indigenous groups. It has diverse and dynamic ecological systems with many unique plants and animals.

The Congo River has tremendous potential to provide electricity, and in terms of ecological and power wealth, as well as its rain forests, is rated second in the world after the Amazon (Fairley, 2010). Since its tributaries are on both sides of the equator, the Congo is swamped with rain water in all seasons. This consistent flow translates into a hydropower potential that knows no equal in scale, concentrating at a natural pinch point 225 km upstream from Kinshasa. The Congo River drops some 102 meters over a distance of 15 km within the valley. Total flows range from a low of 30,000 m³/s in the dry season from June until September to up to 55,000 m³/s at the peak of the wet season in November. Two channel diversion power projects, Inga I and II, take a portion of the flow off the main channel and divert it 9 km through a canal to the hydroelectric plants. After powering the turbines the water rejoins the main channel (Fairley, 2010).

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The Inga valley 250km west of Kinshasa is the site of the most important hydroelectric projects and proposals in all of Africa. The existing installation already power Kinshasa and western D.R. Congo and provide critical export revenue, and expansions could see the site develop into a clean energy provider of global importance. These developments however will not be without localized impacts and risks which need to be mitigated.

Inga I was built in 1972 and Inga II in 1982, and have a design capacity of 351 MW and 1,424 MW, respectively. Nevertheless, due to old installations and lack of maintenance, the output is now considerably reduced. An internationally funded $US 500 million rehabilitation project is in progress to restore some of that capacity to over 70% and to modernize the generating facility, the distribution network and the electricity authority SNEL (Société Nationale d’Electricité) (UNEP, 2012).

In 2002, there was an attempt to obtain more power from Inga through international cooperation. A major new project, Inga III, is at the design level with a proposed total capacity of 3.5 to 5 GW. High voltage lines are intended to transmit the power generated to Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa and the Republic of Congo (Brazzaville). Much of the anticipated project cost (up to US$8 to 10 billion) faces tough technical choices including that of optimal design (IRENA, 2012).

The Grand Inga project is at the feasibility stage and plans are to generate 39 GW, which is the largest energy-generating project ever-built. The project is expected to cost as much as US$ 80 billion and significant amounts of electricity could be exported. The D.R.

Congo and South Africa have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to establish partnership between the two countries of the development of Grand Inga.

5.3 GOVERNANCE OF TRANS-BOUNDARY WATER RESOURCES IN EASTER