In 2011 Addis Ababa announced a joint project with China to build a massive hydroelectric project on the Blue Nile near the Sudanese border called the Grand Renaissance Dam. In 2017 the dam was almost complete, but it will take several years to fill the reservoir with water. The dam will be used to create electricity, and the flow to Egypt should continue; but in theory the reservoir could also hold a year’s worth of water, and completion of the project would give Ethiopia the potential to hold the water for its own use, thus drastically reducing the flow into Egypt.
