From Haile Selassie to crowdfunding, how Ethiopia’s GERD dam was born | Energy News

Abdulhakim Shamsuddin was 14 and in high school in the city of Dire Dawa when he first heard that he could contribute to the building of a dam on the Blue Nile.

The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, known by its acronym GERD, was pitched as Ethiopia’s most ambitious infrastructure venture, which promised to harness the river’s power to propel Ethiopia to reliable energy access and prosperity.

Not long after then-Prime Minister Meles Zenawi…