It is situated on the Tekezé River, a tributary of the Nile that flows through one of the deepest canyons in the world.

CWGS was contracted to build the Tekezé Dam.

The dam was Ethiopia's largest public works project.

[3] The resulting reservoir is 105 km2 large and it has a capacity of 9.3 billion m3 of water.

A 105 kilometres (65 mi) transmission line connects it to the national grid at Mekelle.