Profit margins are squeezed amid rising fuel costs, but also because Turkish authorities limited electricity price rises in a bid to rein in inflation. Several large utilities were consequently forced to restructure foreign currency loans, agreed earlier to build power plants or retrofit and expand operations.
Several power producers across Turkey consequently consider mothballing or closing down some of their gas-fired power units, as competition with cheaper thermal coal units intensifies.
Şanlıurfa CCGT barely dispatched
The Şanlıurfa combined-cycle power unit had been running at merely 15 percent of its capacity in the first nine months of last year, Aksa Energji noted. This means it contributed just 2 percent of Turkey’s total power output from January to September, and just 0.5 percent in the third quarter.
The Şanlıurfa combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power plant, built in 2011, initially had an installed capacity of 120 MW. A Dresser-Rand steam turbine with 11.5 MW capacity added later, and a further capacity increase was undertaken in 2015 which brought the CCGT’s overall capacity to 147 MW. The site also includes 12 Wärtsilä 20V34SG gas engines, each with a capacity of 9.7 MW, as part of a back-up power unit.
Enka recently halted operation of two gas-fired power station, including the large Gebze plant in western Turkey, after power purchase agreement with state-run EÜAS ended. Aksa in November 2018 closed down 115 MW plant in Manisa in western Turkey, citing pricing problems.