Blog Archive

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

ENEL GREEN POWER Interested in Turkey

ENEL GREEN POWER Interested in Turkey

Enel Green Power is setting up its strategies also considering the significant natural resources of this country, which could allow to install up to 100 additional MW

Turkey, with its extraordinary economic growth, appears today as one of the most interesting countries for renewable investments.
The country’s electricity capacity is just over 50,000 MW, and over the next few years it will greatly increase in order to meet the fast-increasing domestic demand. Additionally, export opportunities must be fulfilled, especially regarding green energy to Europe. Indeed, renewables have an extremely high potential (especially wind, hydro and geothermal), while in September 2010 the first interconnection has been established between the Turkish and the European electricity networks.

«Enel Green Power is particularly interested in Turkey’s geothermal development perspectives» said Ruggero Bertani, of EGP’s Geothermal Excellence Centre. «We actually consider this country as strategic for our projects in this field. Indeed, it is the only country in Europe, besides Italy in which, based on its technical characteristics and resource potential, significant geothermal investment can be planned Turkey approved an interesting subsidised tariff system, with the perspective of further improvement ».

Following a geothermal development agreement finalized in January 2011 with the Turkish industrial group Uzun, in June EGP Jeotermal Turkey was established. This company is owned 99% by Enel Green Power and 1% by Meteor, 70% of which is controlled by Uzun and 30% by the geothermal consulting firm G-Energy.
Meteor brought to the company a package of 143 geothermal licenses. Regarding the most interesting ones – close to the coasts of the Aegean Sea, north of Smyrna – surface studies already began and in 2012 the initial drilling phase will take place.
«We expect to gain middle enthalpy resources– Bertani explained – for which we are planning to develop innovative binary plants like the Stillwater and Salt Wells facilities in Nevada, USA. We will obviously be able to make detailed plans regarding plants and capacity only after in-depth studies. Overall we expect to install up to 100 MW of additional geothermal capacity».

At present, about 90 MW of geothermal power are online in Turkey. Nevertheless, the potential is extremely interesting, including projects that – according to forecasts made at the GeoPower Turkey Conference held in Istanbul on September 20-21 – are expected to install a capacity of about 600 MW by 2016 and up to 1,000 MW by 2020.

Moreover, EGP is exploring the possibility of harnessing other renewable sources, like wind (Turkey’s winds are particularly strong, especially in the Bosphorous area). This way it will optimize the concrete possibilities that the Turkish market offers for the development of complementary sources.

Reference: http://www.enel.com/en-GB/media/news/Egp_geothermal_turkey/index.aspx

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.