German energy company RWE has made its final investment decision to construct a power station in the Denizli province of Western Turkey. With its Turkish joint venture partner Turcas, the company will construct a combined-cycle gas turbine plant (CCGT) with a capacity of 775MW.
The total investment sum amounts to approximately EUR500m. Following checks to ensure the project complies with EU standards, the Turkish authorities have granted the necessary building permits a few days ago. The construction is about to start mid-2010 and the power station should go on stream by the end of 2012.
Leonhard Birnbaum, chief strategy officer of RWE, said: “Our state-of-the-art CCGT power station will have an efficiency rate of over 55% and we will be thus making a vital contribution to sustainable and secure power supply in Turkey.”
RWE has had its own local company in Turkey since 2008 and considers the country to be an important growth market. In view of the country’s long-term energy requirements, there is an urgent need for expansion and modernization of Turkish power generation, the company said.
Mr Birnbaum added, “The Turkish market is an attractive growth area of major strategic significance to our group. We intend to expand our business activities in Turkey on a step-by-step basis and will also engage in further energy projects to participate in the growth opportunities of this market.”