The Turkish government is planning to build a third thermal power station at a lignite site in the east of the country, Reuters reports. According to the head of the state electricity company, TEAS, approval has been given for a third 1440 MWe in the Afsin-Elbistan region.
The announcement was made as the Turkish government signed a deal with a Japanese-led consortium for the Afsin-Elbistan B power station, the second plant in the region. TEAS is to begin negotiations for the Afsin-Elbistan C project immediately it receives government authorization. The third project will have four units, each of 360 MWe.
Afsin-Elbistan B is being built by a consortium of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Mitsubishi Corp, Deutsche Babcock and Turkish companies Gama, Enka, Tekren and Tokar. The cost of the project is $1.62 billion. This price will be used as the basis for negotiations for the next project.
The Afsin-Elbistan region has lignite reserves of 2.4 billion t, around one third of Turkey’s total recoverable reserves. The region will support five power stations, TEAS believes.
Turkey expects to generate 108.5 TWh this year, a shortfall of 6.6 TWh. The shortage will be made up by imports from Iran, Bulgaria and Georgia.