Amid a bitter standoff with Egypt over the construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), Ethiopia is considering cutting the installed capacity of the Dam by 1,300MW.

The Dam that has been under construction since 2011 was planned to have an installed capacity of 6,450MW of power. However, the project office of the Dam proposes to slash the installed capacity to 5,150MW, decreasing the number of turbines to be installed for power generation. The project office has already forwarded the proposal to Ethiopian Electric Power and is waiting for approval.

Initially, the Dam was planned to have 16 turbine units, but the office has proposed slashing three units in a bid to reduce the unit cost of the Dam, according to Kifle Horo, chief engineer of the Dam.

“Installing the turbines will only raise the overall cost of the Dam while having no significant effect on the capacity factor," Kifle told Fortune.

The capacity factor is the unitless ratio of actual electrical energy output over a given period compared to the maximum possible electrical energy output over the given period.

Upon completion, the Dam will generate 15,760GWh of energy a year on average.

"Having additional units would inflate the cost of the dam," said Kifle. “Thus, it will be ideal if the country invests the money that would be used for the three turbines on other dams that will generate additional power and energy."

While reducing the number of turbines, there will not be a change in the head of the Dam and average water discharge. The maximum dam head is 145m, while the design head is 123m. The water that will be impounded in the reservoirs will be 74 billion cubic metres.

"Megawatts don't show the real size of a dam," said Kifle, "rather the amount of the energy it generates [over time] does."

Feasibility studies that were previously conducted show that the most feasible installed capacity of the Dam is 3,500MW, according to sources close to the case.

Consuming close to 99 billion Br, the Dam has been under construction since 2011 and currently reached to 68.6pc completion. It was started with a target of being completed in five years for a total cost of 80 billion Br. However, after nine years, the project has not begun generating power and already has close to 20 billion Br in cost overruns. To complete the Dam, the country needs an estimated 40 billion Br.

When it was kicked off, the project had five phases: a contract signing that was meant to be finalised during the first quarter of 2011; impounding that should be started in the second quarter of 2013; early generation, that was scheduled to be launched in the third quarter of 2014; and the completion of civil work that was set to be finished in 2016. The final completion was scheduled for mid-2017.

The construction of the Dam is undergoing three major works - civil, electromechanical and hydro steel structure. The civil work that reached 84.5pc completion has five components - a main dam roller-compacted concrete, the saddle dam, the powerhouse, a gated spillway and the switchyard.

Out of the 10.7 million cubic meters of roller-compacted concrete, 8.5 million cubic metres of the concrete is filled so far, pushing progress to 80.2pc. The construction of the saddle dam, a wall built at the edge of a lake or a reservoir to protect nearby land from flooding, is almost done, reaching 14 million square metres. The construction of the two powerhouses, which generate power, has reached 69pc.

The construction of the spillways, which ensure that the water does not overflow and destroy the dam, has reached 96pc, while the switchyard towers and high-voltage power lines that deliver electricity to the grid have reached to 67pc.

Electromechanical works of the Dam, which includes the installation of the turbines, has reached 25pc. Most of the procured nine turbines have reached the Dam, while the remaining are in shipment. So far, nine units of turbines were manufactured by Alstom and Vioth. The French Alstom Corporation supplied five units of turbines, while Voith Hydro Shanghai, a Germany-based Chinese firm, manufactured four units.