Macromegas #56 - Qattara depression, Zanclean flood & Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD)

Qattara depression, Zanclean flood & Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD)

Hello Friends,

A few weeks ago, I discovered the hypothesis that, 6 million years ago, the whole of the Mediterranean sea dried out then, 700,000 years later, filled up again in about 2 years thanks to a waterfall 1.5 km high and 5km wide. That’s the Zanclean Megaflood Hypothesis:

This reminded me that, a few years ago, I discovered that some crazy engineers had had the crazy idea to flood 2% of Egypt to generate electricity from water evaporation.

The idea would be to flood the Qattara Depression, dig a canal to the Mediterranean sea, wait for the depression to fill up into an artificial sea, build a hydroelectric power plant on the canal, and wait for the evaporation to create a constant - and powerful - influx of water into the depression.

The Qattaran “Sea”

My problem was nobody seemed to mention what the power generated would be.

Now, if you know me, you know I had to do the math:

The answer is about 900MW.

That’s about the output of an average nuclear reactor. Just through evaporation.

This project might not be happening, but the 6,500MW Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on the Nile, is.

It took 3 years to fill despite the Nile’s incredible water flows:

And sparked strong geopolitical tensions with Egypt.

Thanks for reading, and have a energy-filled week ahead,

V