Cheat sheet: Three things to know about African superdams

(i) The current kings of the lot are the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, the Aswan High Dam in Egypt and the Cahora Bassa Dam in Mozambique. They have a joint capacity of 11,000 MW. (The top ten are mapped above.)

(ii) This is still comparatively modest compared to the world’s three biggest dams: The Three Gorges Dam in China, the Itaipu Dam in Brazil & Paraguay, and the Xiluodu Dam in China. Together they have a capacity of 50,000 MW.

(iii) But if or when the Grand Inga Dam in DR Congo is built, its capacity alone would be 40,000 MW. Or twice the capacity of the current world leader, the Three Gorges Dam.