The Kargı Kızılırmak hydropower plant became fully operational and increased the capacity of Norway’s Statkraft in Turkey by six times. The company now accounts for more than 1% of the country’s electricity generation.
More than 700 people attended the official opening at the 102 MW plant located in Çorum province at the Black Sea region, including Starkraft’s chief executive officer and president Christian Rynning-Tønnesen and Turkish energy minister Taner Yıldız, Statkraft said. The facility went into commercial operation in May.
Rynning-Tønnesen underlined the utility is in Turkey for the long term, eyeing more investments in hydropower generation in current tenders, but also other renewables. Demand for electricity is growing fast as the population and the economy expands, making Turkey an important market, he added.
Yıldız underlined the importance of Kargı project for strengthening the capacity of renewable power generation in Turkey. Investments in renewables pave the way for prosperity, he added.
The power plant worth EUR 250 million consists of a dam on the river Kızılırmak and an 11.5 kilometre tunnel leading the water to the turbines. In 2007 the company was given the license to build and operate the facility for 49 years.
The dam makes it possible to regulate power generation to fit the changing demand during the day, Statkraft said. The company operates the 20.2 MW Çakıt hydropower plant in Adana, and is constructing the 517 MW Çetin hydro project worth EUR 600 million in southeast Anatolia, its largest outside of home country.
