Author: yuvakuran

ISKENDER ARUOBA- Radikal, 15 Mart 2010, Pazartesi

E enerji, M kitle/madde, C2 ise ışık hızının karesini ifade eder. Albert Einstein, 1905’deki bu formül ile enerjiyi maddeden farklı bir şey sanan bilim dünyasına aradaki ‘fiziki’ yakınlığı gösterdi. Son yıllarda enerjinin daha ‘nelere yakın!’ olduğunu öğrenmeye devam ediyoruz. Enerji ve demokrasi mesela; çok enerji membaınız varsa; ABD size Hummer’ler dolusu demokrasi sunar!

Enerjiniz yoksa boruları döşemeye başlayın; nasıl olsa! Birileri içinden enerji geçirecektir! Büyük abilere sormadan nükleer enerji santralı filan yapmağa kalkarsanız; ormanlık yerde yapın; uzaydan görünmesin maazallah!

Enerji Bakanı Sn. Taner Yıldız’ın ekonomi yazarlarını davet ettiği beş çayına gittiğimde aklımdan bunlar geçiyordu!

‘Enerji’ de, artık ‘Petrolun varili şu kadar elektrik çıkarır; oysa doğalgaz şu kadar ama hem temiz hem de…’ diye uzayan konuşmalar yapılacak bir durum yok. Konu tamamen ‘uluslararası siyaset’ ile ilgili. Mülkiye mezunu Bakan olmanız gerekmiyor ama hem ‘işi’ bileceksiniz hem de diploması.

Benim bakana sorulacak bir Alman yatırımcı dostum kanalı ile gelmiş- bir sualim vardı. “Bakanlık YEK belgeli rüzgâr enerjisi yatırımcıların ürettiği elektriği 10 yıl müddet ile 5.5 avro/sente satın alma garantisi vermiş. Bugüne kadar fiyatlar bu rakamın üzerinde seyretmiş. Ancak bu yıl krizden ötürü 5 avro/sentin de altına inmiş. Şimdi ne olacak?”

Sayın bakan; gayet net olarak “Yatırımcı elektriğini ister piyasaya, ister bize, nerede uygun fiyat bulursa satabilir; biz en az 5.5 avro/senti hemen öderiz” dedi. “Yegâne temiz enerji-rüzgâr” için yatırım yapan ve risk alan bu insanların özendirilmeleri için çok daha fazla desteklenmeleri gerek.

Veriler dünyada bulunabilecek en önemli rüzgâr potansiyellerinden birinin bulunduğunu ve tüm yatırımlar zamanında, birtakım ‘Ankara aracı şirketleri!’ olmadan bitirilebilirse, tüm enerji ihtiyacımızın dörtte birine kadar kısmını karşılayabileceğini gösteriyor. Alman devleti 7.8 avro/sent taban fiyat uyguluyormuş; bizimki de buna yakın bir şeyler olmalı. İkinci sualim; tüm vatandaşlar içindi; BOTAŞ, pahallı doğal gazı sübvanse ederek piyasaya ucuza veriyor; borçlanıyor ve zarar ediyor; Bu borcu eninde sonunda yine vatandaş ödemeyecek mi? Hani ‘Serbest Pazar?’.

Sayın bakan, doğalgaz fiyatlarının 2000 yılı öncesi siyasilerden sorgulanması gerektiğini ‘ima’ etmek ile yetindi!

Toplantıda uzunca konuşulan bir başka konuda su ve madenlerimizin kullanılmasındaki ‘başıbozukluk’.

Sayın bakan açık yüreklilikle sularımızın sadece 3/1’ini elektrik üretiminde kullanabiliyoruz; gerisi yöresel reaksiyonlar, (Fırtına deresi, İkizdere kanyonu, Hasankeyf vs.) yüzünden kullanılamıyor diye dert yandı. Yani devlet, bütün medeni ülkelerin yaptığı ‘düzgün kullanım, aldığın gibi terk etme!’ gereğini yerine getirtemiyor. Çevre Bakanlığı’nda çalışan hanım kızlar uzatmalı jandarma çavuşu edası ile sadece ‘Yassak hemşerim!’ diyorlar. Yasaklama kolay tabii! çözüm için ise bilgi ve çalışmak lazım!

Sayın bakan ile uzunca süre de ‘Sinop’taki Kore Nükleer Enerji’ santralı konuştuk. Koreliler 1970’li yıllarda 2000 mühendisi bu işe memur etmişler; işe başlamadan yurtiçi ve dışında 20 yıl çalışma ve araştırma yapmışlar; oysa bizim Enerji Bakanlığımızın Ar-Ge bütçesi yok!

Bu konu bizi, altı yıldır bu köşeden bıkmadan yazmağa gayret ettiğim, Doğu-Batı mantığını belirleyen; ‘Hakkında karar verilenlerin karara iştirak etmesi’ noktasına getiriyor. Santralı kim dikip işletecek? Türk mühendisi ve işadamı değil mi? Bunların STK’sı var mı? Var; Türkiye Mühendis ve Mimar Odaları Birliği-TMMOB, TOBB vs. Sayın Bakan, -kendisi de bir mühendis olarak!- bu işi bu mühendisler ile beraber çözmek mecburiyetindedir; hemen çalışmalara başlarsa hepimiz kazanırız.

Sadece AKP iktidarı değil; 60 yıldır Pinstripe takım elbise ile Armani kravat takıp, Mercedes’in plakası da kırmızı olunca herkes her şeyi birden biliveriyor! Sayın Bakan ‘kritiklere açığım!’ dediği için bunları yazdım. Yoksa ‘Santralın betonuna Boeing değil de; C 130 çarpsın da görelim!’ filan yazardım!?

ISTANBUL, March 11 (Reuters) – A rush to build coal-fired power stations in Turkey has stalled, brought low by last year’s deep economic recession, environmental concerns and regulation, industry officials say.

Turkey’s economy shrank 6 percent in 2009, but cheap imported coal could still drive the power-hungry economy once it returns to the sort of robust growth that saw output rise on average 6 percent a year between 2003 and 2008, they say.

Since 2004, the Turkish Energy Market Regulatory Authority, EPDK has issued 21 licenses for new privately owned coal power projects with a total generation capacity of 10,363 MW — some 20 percent of the country’s power needs.

“There was a huge demand, an 8 percent increase in power demand each year,” said Osman Bulent Tor, a senior researcher at Tubitak Uzay, a technology research institute in Ankara.

Turkey had made major investments in natural gas but price rises and supply problems made that option less attractive.

Cheap, easily available high quality coal attracted new players such as Eren Holding, originally a textile company, ICDAS, which began life as a steelmaker, and construction firm Enka.

But with the economic crisis electricity demand stagnated and new power plants were suddenly less attractive. EPDK data shows only one of the planned new facilities — operated by the conglomerate ICDAS at Canakkale on the Asian shore of the Dardanelles — is in operation, and then only partially.

“Suddenly this global economic crisis happened, everybody stopped producing,” said Robert Yildirim, chief executive of Yildirim Group, a conglomerate with interests in coal. “These projects were suddenly cancelled, put on the shelf.”

Administrative hurdles have snared other developments. New coal plants are unpopular with local residents and green groups, and some proposals have run into problems with the environmental authorities.

INVESTMENT APPETITE

Bulent Yenal, financial affairs coordinator at Hattat Holding, said his company was awaiting the result of the environmental impact assessment on its power plant at Amasra on the Black Sea.

Others say government control of electricity distribution has discouraged investors.

“You aim to build a new generating plant, but the problem is whether the transmission line is available,” said Mohammad Shahidehpour, a U.S. academic at the Illinois Institute of Technology who has studied electricity restructuring in Turkey.

“Both transmission and distribution are completely regulated, in the sense that the government manages all of that,” he said.

Despite the problems, analyst Haluk Direskeneli said he thought the plants would be built, driving up demand for thermal coal beyond the 20.37 million tonnes the Turkish Statistical Institute says Turkey imported in 2009.

“Global crises do not slow down investment appetite if there is real demand for more energy consumption, as in the case of Turkey,” he said in an e-mail.

“Intelligent companies, such as Koc, Sabanci, Zorlu, Akenerji, Enka, Gama, Oyak, continue to work on strategic planning on energy investments,” he said.

Some projects have indeed made headway. Sencer Aras, a project co-ordinator at Eren Holding, says construction was progressing at its 1360 MW project in the Zonguldak region on the Black Sea.

“The first unit we started with, it is almost complete,” he added. “The second unit, which is 600 MW, will be ready in June or July. The last unit will be in operation at the end of the year.”

(Editing by Sue Thomas)

Dear Colleagues,

Total installed capacity of Tunçbilek-Kütahya Thermal Power plant is 430 MW. The annual availability of the power plant is around 35%. The coal reserves exist for a new additional capacity of 2×150 MW after privatisation.

There are 5 units in TunçBilek Thermal Power plant in Turkey.

1st and 2nd units were built by DurrWerke Germany in 1956 each with 24 MWe steam turbines by AEG of Germany.

3rd unit was constructed by SGP of Austria in 1966 with 65 MWe steam turbine by Elin of Austria.

The 4th and 5th units were delivered by Elektrim of Poland in years 1978-1979 each with 150 Mwe steam turbines by KWU of Germany.

In year 2002, Tunçbilek Thermal power plant administration opened an international tender to replace the old existing electrostatic precipitations (E/P or dust collectors) of their 4th and 5th units each with 150 MWe electricity output.

These 4th and 5th steam boilers were firing poor quality 2200 kcal/kg LHV coal with approximately 40% ash and 20% moisture from nearby local coal mines.

Earlier the E/P supplier company (Czech- Slovak?) received the order but in the end they could not meet the required dust collection requirements at stack exit less than 250 Milligrams per Nm3 dry basis.

The first Contract was cancelled. It is later retendered but this time to meet new stack dust emission requirement to be less than 100 Milligrams per Nm3 dry basis in accordance with new 2004 environmental regulations.

However since the first contract for 4th and 5th units was cancelled, the administration applied to the local courts for compensation.

The first contract price is not valid since the delivery could not meet the first requirement to have stack emission less than 250 Milligrams per Nm3 dry basis.

The second contract will not be comparable with the first since it is in compliance with new emission requirements which is set to be less than 100 Milligrams per Nm3 dry basis.

Please do note that in near future that figure will be less than 30 milligrams per Nm3 dry basis in accordance with new EU legislations.

This situation is not the first, and will not be the last in E/P replacement contracts in our power plants.

We have a similar story in Catalagzi-B thermal power plant where the original supplier has received the E/P replacement order without competitive tendering and in the end they could not meet the required emission limitations. Contract is cancelled. The case is in the local court. We have Kangal and Yenikoy E/P replacement contracts ongoing. We are not sure if they will be meeting the required emission standards. We have new Yatagan and Soma E/P replacement tenders soon.

TuncBilek thermal power plant is too old, and getting older every day. Its pulverized coal firing technology is outdated for the available low LHV local lignite coal. Its dust collectors are not sufficient to meet new EU emission regulations. There is no Flue gas desulphurization. The new ESP units will not help since there is no sufficient space to install them. New rehab works will not work in the long term operation. Moreover it is almost at the city center.

Please do note that first three units are not in operation. They are too old. Last two units need ESP for operation. Since we do not install the new ESP units in accordance with the new EU regulations, it is risky to run them. In the end we have a plant with no electricity generation, waiting idle for the ESP units to be installed. We have a downrated capacity but not in operation.

So the best thing to do is to close the plant, sell the equipment at scrap value, dismantle the plant and make the vacated plant space a green park for the public. Since we have available local coal, we can install a new thermal power plant far from city center preferably at a remote land, with capacity 4×150 MWe with new technology, CFB or even IGCC or CCS with full compliance to environmental regulations provided that we create jobs for local qualified workers, and more jobs for Turkish engineers and local contractors.

It is now your Sunday Puzzle. What should be the decision for appropriate compensation in Tuncbilek 4th and 5th units for the first contract as of year 2010?

Have a nice weekend.

—
Haluk Direskeneli, Ankara based Energy Analyst

ISTANBUL – Hürriyet Daily News, Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Turkey and Korea will launch negotiations for a Free Trade Agreement in March with a view to tripling their bilateral trade.

The two countries also signed a deal to construct a nuclear energy plant in the Black Sea province of Sinop during a Turkey-Korea business forum organized in Istanbul on Wednesday.

Ümit Boyner, president of the Turkish Industrialists’ and Businessmen’s Association, or TÜSİAD, said the discussions will start during the visit of South Korea’s trade minister to Turkey on March 19. The first round of negotiations for the agreement will start on April 26. The negotiations are expected to be completed by the end of 2010.

The cooperation protocol signed will establish a nuclear power plant in the northern Turkish province of Sinop. “We have to produce at least 10 percent of our energy from nuclear power plants by 2020,” Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister Taner Yıldız said during the signature ceremony.

Turkey’s Enka and South Korea’s Kepco will make a joint bid to build the plant. The two companies agreed to form a 50-50 venture to construct the plant of 5,600 megawatts, Enka Deputy Chief Executive Mustafa Gecek told Bloomberg on Wednesday.

Turkey and South Korea have an annual trade volume of some $3.3 billion, which is largely in South Korea’s favor. The trade volume stood at $4.3 billion in 2008 but fell to the current level due to the global crisis.

Speaking at the Turkey-Korean Business Forum, Boyner said there is now need to strengthen bilateral trade but in a more balanced manner.

“Private partnerships will contribute to the strengthening of economic ties. South Korea is a very strong knowledge-based economy with strengths in energy, information technologies and biotechnology. Energy is one of the key areas of cooperation where solar energy, power, hydropower and geothermal energy projects offer opportunities for Korean firms in Turkey,” she said.

Young Hak Kim, the South Korean vice minister for trade and energy, said many Korean firms are interested in partnering with Turkish firms. “There is a growing demand for energy in Turkey and in Korea we have a long reliance on nuclear power. Turkish and Korean firms could cooperate on, for example, building nuclear energy infrastructure in Turkey.”

Target of $10 billion

Zafer Çağlayan, Turkey’s foreign trade minister, said at the present time South Korea exports to Turkey nine times more than Turkey exports to the East Asian country. “We need to map out how these ratios can be balanced and in which sectors … We need to start working seriously to bring trade between Turkey and Korea to $10 billion,” he said.

Çağlayan also said he hopes Koreans will work to improve Turkey’s image as a travel destination in South Korea. “In fact I am a bit upset that Turkey is shown in some Korean travel advisory Web sites as a dangerous place to which to travel although we are talking about a country in which the European Capital of Culture is located at. I hope Koreans will cease to present Turkey as an unsafe travel destination.”

Ali Babacan, Turkey’s deputy prime minister, noted Turkey and South Korea have had a special relationship since the Korean War. “The basis of our relationship was founded in some very difficult times. After the 1999 earthquake South Korea was one of the countries that helped Turkey the most, for example.”

South Korea is currently the second most important trade partner for Turkey in the Far East after China, with some 166 Korean companies currently operating in Turkey, including LG and Hyundai.

Dear Colleagues,

Reuters announced today that the Turkish state power company Elektrik Uretim (EUAS) will sign a nuclear energy cooperation agreement with South Korea’s Kepco, a Turkish energy ministry source said on Wednesday.

The agreement will cover cooperation with South Korea for a planned nuclear power plant on the Black Sea at Sinop.

Construction of nuclear infrastructure could start in the short-term, said South Korean Deputy Prime Minister Young Hak Kim, speaking at a Turkish-South Korean business conference in Istanbul.

Turkey wants to build two nuclear power plants to reduce dependence on foreign energy imports and cover a looming shortfall in electricity for an economy that grew by an average of six percent a year between 2003 and 2008.

Ankara’s nuclear plans suffered a setback late last year when a Turkish court annulled a 2008 tender, won by Russia’s Atomstroiexport, Inter Rao and Turkish Park Teknik, citing problems with the pricing of electricity from the proposed plant.

Ankara has been in talks with Moscow since January over a possible intergovernmental agreement that would hand Russian firms the licence to build a separate plant at Mersin on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast.

Numerous Turkish and foreign firms have also expressed an interest in any nuclear tender.

Half of Turkey’s power plants are fired by natural gas, of which Turkey has few reserves, and the country faces a chronic power shortage without annual investment of between $3-5 billion, analysts say.

The government sees atomic power meeting 20 percent of Turkey’s power needs by 2030. Turkey has cancelled four previous attempts to build a nuclear plant, beginning in the late 1960s, due to the high cost and environmental concerns.

It is your writer’s sincere feeling that the ongoing Nuclear Power Plant Construction Policy is not appropriate nor correct.

Turkey is simply not ready for such a huge project with lack of qualified personnel. The lack of qualified local personnel is one angle ignored, but another one is the mismanaged de-grading/ aging power plants already operational. We can’t even operate nor rehabilitate the existing thermal power plants properly.

Most of the Turkish contracting firms are not capable of anything but laying the groundwork of the plant site, and handle simple mechanical site installations. It is our feeling that our public employees do not have experience for project management and contract management of such gigantic project.

These missing issues on insurance, necessary credit financing will give unnecessary and unfair commercial advantage to Russian and Korean parties over reputable western counterparts with proven international references.

Russian and Korean parties do not care these commercial details with luxury of full government backing.

Russian, and Korean references are not so proven technologies nor the latest forth generation in the commercial international markets. Russian and Korean companies might come to dominate the nuclear energy sector, a sector that was supposed to reduce Turkey’s dependency on overseas resources.

They may have other strategic expectations, such as staying at the stronghold strategic seaports of Turkey, Akkuyu on the Mediterranean coast, close to strategic MiddleEast conflict zones, Sinop on the North at BlackSea coast,

The overnight contract decision is too short for a comprehensive evaluation and careful risk analysis for a nuclear power station in that size and output. Hence the contract documents are not made yet public, and the information available is also not so commercially sound.

These are all state secrets, and there is no transparency. We need to be too careful on what we are going the get in the end. We may not be pleased with the end product.

Nuclear Power plant contracts which would be a sort of “I did it my way” scheme will be signed between government to government agreements. However parliament approval sessions is expected until the general election which is 17 months ahead from today.

Your comments are always welcome

—
Haluk Direskeneli, Ankara based Energy Analyst

Dear Energy Professional, Dear Colleagues

Energy Markets Regulatory Board (EMRA or EPDK) Chairman recently announced that 1120 MWe Hamidabad CCPP, 2×160 MWe Can CFB, 4×150 MWe SeyitÖmer TPP, 1034 MWe Soma TPP will be privatized later this year.

Overall capacity in privatization is 16,000 MegaWatts and public authorities expect to get 10 billion US Dollars equivalent of privatization income for the Treasury after electricity generation plant sales.

Our new job is to figure out proper procedures and the face value of the plants in privatization, plus terms and conditions of the scheme. Let us choose a sample Thermal power plant and estimate its face price for sale. So the question is how much to pay in order to buy Soma Thermal Power Plant in Privatization.

In our country, we have a rule-of-thumb expectation that an investment should repay itself within next three years. That may be extended to four years at most.

If you have a thermal power plant with 1034 MWe electricity output capacity, at annual 7000 hours of average working availability after privatization, at average 10 US cents per kwh prevailing electricity market prices, you come up with a figure to earn approximately 350 million US Dollars per year after deducting your coal and operation costs. In years of repayment period, that is accumulated to be not less than 1 billion US Dollars. This is the gross price of the plant in privatization.

Now we have to deduct necessary rehabilitation expenses from 1 billion US Dollar. Rehabilitation expenses should cover expenses to pay 6 (six) new FGD (Flue Gas Desulphurisation) installations. That is approximately 25 million US dollars per FGD unit. That figure is derived from past tenders of Kemerkoy, Yatagan and Orhaneli thermal power plant FGD installations.

The next is new Electrostatic Precipitation (E/P or ESP or dust collector) installations for the remaining 4 units. We know that plant has already paid 9 million Euros for the ESPs of 1st and 2nd units of Soma-B plant. You need to renew also boiler pressure tubes, safety valves, soot blowers, coal mills.

In the end we come up a rough figure of 300 million US Dollars for rehabilitation. That is to be deducted from the gross price of 1 billion US Dollars.

One should keep in mind that in privatization period, new owners normally prefer to keep the existing qualified experienced engineering staff to be active in operation. The technical staff gets better monthly salaries provided that they continue to generate value added contribution to the organization. However senior labor force is requested to get retired. That is the natural outcome of privatization process.

The most important risk in operation is in the quality of the incoming coal to feed the thermal power plant. In the past low and fluctuating quality of incoming coal was the most apparent critical risk as foreseen by the interested foreign parties in early 2000s.

The new investors would like to purchase the nearby coal reserves in order to keep themselves free from risk of incoming coal quality fluctuations. Constant coal quality is to be secured with selective mining. Unburnable materials are to be screened and removed.

So we need to estimate the prevailing price of the available coal reserves. That is again three years payback of the current annual income of the reserves. Coal is sold to plant at 2.50 US Dollars per million BTU heating capacity. That is a reasonable global price for lignite reserves. For 1034 MWe electricity generation, you have to pay 60 million US Dollars per year for coal. That is accumulated approximately 180 million US dollars in three years.

After privatization of the existing coal reserves, investor should enforce selective mining operation for better coal quality. That needs more mechanization in open pit mining, and reduced labor force in underground mining. That is the nasty reality of the privatization. These realities should be foreseen and evaluated in the long term prior to full enforcement of privatization decision.

All interested parties should get prepared for the outcome. Treasury is certainly in hesitation of spending public funds in power plant rehabilitations. They feel that the public spending is not in proper control. Public tenders take long evaluation periods and they are completed in long terms. In the end most of them are not operated effectively, and properly. Treasury is also in hesitation and reluctance in spending due to possible corruption in public spending.

The prevailing political administration may prefer to privatize the entire plants rather than spending in rehabilitation. After privatization, the public authority could enforce the buyers to agree on the necessary rehabilitation spending from their private sources. It is proven that private spending in rehabilitation is faster, cheaper and more effective in the end.

Human cost impact of the privatization is that labor force is reduced in time. Hiring and firing will be easier. Those senior staff will get retired. Better educated and qualified new staff will be recruited. The existing technical staff will be kept unchanged for a while since they are the most important human capital of the establishment as long as they keep their contribution to the operation. They normally get paid more that they get earlier. Their material satisfaction is fulfilled by the new private owners. On the other hand the technical staff will get more freedom in their spending for rehabilitation and programmed maintenance.

More plant availability and higher capacity output are expected in the long run. Electricity generation will be sold in the local national Market at prevailing rates and more income generation will be created. That is more taxable income for the public funds.

There is also a new investment potential to construct 2×300 MWe capacity new coal fired thermal power plant in Soma in future. That new investment will also be integrated with the privatization package to encourage and attract more attention to the project.

In the end we may find that a proper private ownership may also bring better operation, better rehabilitation, and better environment under strict public scrutiny, and generate more income to the workers.

Moreover they should make more funds available to scientific research in the nearby universities for better coal firing, better utilization of coal reserves. New scientific research institutes are to be established. More academic research funds need to be allocated to the local nearby university engineering and technical departments.

They can sponsor upgrading of the living standards of the nearby settlement. They can sponsor cultural and historical sites/ activities in nearby ancient sites, which are Bergama/ Pergamon and Truva/ Troy.

We have lignite coal as our biggest fuel source and we all agree that we should use that coal

with maximum efficiency and availability,
with maximum contribution to the society,
with minimum harm to the mother nature,
with minimum impact on global warming,
with maximized employment for the qualified local labor,
with maximized employment for the local engineering
with maximized employment for the local contracting.

Please do note that Turkey has picked McKinsey & Company as advisor to help shape up sale strategy for the privatization of the state-owned thermal power plants of the public electricity producer EUAS.

We hope that this report although needs a continuous updating, will provide the interested reader a frank view of the Soma Thermal Power Plant for future operation.

This article is an independent work which is prepared with the available information as received at the Soma Thermal Power Plant, trying to advise a candid picture of the existing situation. It is free from any public interpretation.

Your comments are always welcome. With Deepest Regards,

Haluk Direskeneli, Ankara based Energy Analyst

Dear Colleagues,

Total installed capacity of Tunçbilek-Kütahya Thermal Power plant is 430 MW. The annual availability of the power plant is around 35%. The coal reserves exist for a new additional capacity of 2×150 MW after privatisation.

There are 5 units in TunçBilek Thermal Power plant in Turkey.

1st and 2nd units were built by DurrWerke Germany in 1956 each with 24 MWe steam turbines by AEG of Germany.

3rd unit was constructed by SGP of Austria in 1966 with 65 MWe steam turbine by Elin of Austria.

The 4th and 5th units were delivered by Elektrim of Poland in years 1978-1979 each with 150 Mwe steam turbines by KWU of Germany.

In year 2002, Tunçbilek Thermal power plant administration opened an international tender to replace the old existing electrostatic precipitations (E/P or dust collectors) of their 4th and 5th units each with 150 MWe electricity output.

These 4th and 5th steam boilers were firing poor quality 2200 kcal/kg LHV coal with approximately 40% ash and 20% moisture from nearby local coal mines.

Earlier the E/P supplier company (Czech- Slovak?) received the order but in the end they could not meet the required dust collection requirements at stack exit less than 250 Milligrams per Nm3 dry basis.

The first Contract was cancelled. It is later retendered but this time to meet new stack dust emission requirement to be less than 100 Milligrams per Nm3 dry basis in accordance with new 2004 environmental regulations.

However since the first contract for 4th and 5th units was cancelled, the administration applied to the local courts for compensation.

The first contract price is not valid since the delivery could not meet the first requirement to have stack emission less than 250 Milligrams per Nm3 dry basis.

The second contract will not be comparable with the first since it is in compliance with new emission requirements which is set to be less than 100 Milligrams per Nm3 dry basis.

Please do note that in near future that figure will be less than 30 milligrams per Nm3 dry basis in accordance with new EU legislations.

This situation is not the first, and will not be the last in E/P replacement contracts in our power plants.

We have a similar story in Catalagzi-B thermal power plant where the original supplier has received the E/P replacement order without competitive tendering and in the end they could not meet the required emission limitations. Contract is cancelled. The case is in the local court. We have Kangal and Yenikoy E/P replacement contracts ongoing. We are not sure if they will be meeting the required emission standards. We have new Yatagan and Soma E/P replacement tenders soon.

TuncBilek thermal power plant is too old, and getting older every day. Its pulverized coal firing technology is outdated for the available low LHV local lignite coal. Its dust collectors are not sufficient to meet new EU emission regulations. There is no Flue gas desulphurization. The new electrostatic precipitators will not help since there is no sufficient spare to install them. New rehab works will not work in the long term operation. Moreover it is almost at the city center.

So the best thing to do is to close the plant, sell the equipment at scrap value, dismantle the plant and make the vacated plant space a green park for the public. Since we have available local coal, we can install a new thermal power plant far from city center preferably at a remote land, with capacity 4×150 MWe with new technology, CFB or even IGCC or CCS with full compliance to environmental regulations provided that we create jobs for local qualified workers, and more jobs for Turkish engineers and local contractors.

It is now your Sunday Puzzle. What should be the decision for appropriate compensation in Tuncbilek 4th and 5th units for the first contract as of year 2010?

Have a nice weekend.

—
Haluk Direskeneli, Ankara based Energy Analyst

WASHINGTON/ANKARA – Hürriyet Daily News Thursday, March 4, 2010

The Foreign Affairs Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday endorsed a resolution calling for Washington’s recognition of World War I-era killings of Armenians during the last days of the Ottoman Empire as “genocide.”

23 of the panel’s 46 members voted for the resolution and 22 voted against it while one committee member declined to cast a vote.

The move may jeopardize Turkey’s ties with both the United States and Armenia.

Turkey condemned US congressional vote labeling the 1915 killings of Armenians as “genocide” and recalled its ambassador to Washington for consultations.

“We condemn this resolution accusing Turkey of a crime that it has not committed,” the Turkish Prime Ministry said in a written statement.

“Our Ambassador to Washington Namık Tan was recalled tonight to Ankara for consultations after the development,” said the statement, which came immediately after the US panel passed the measure in a closer-than-expected vote.

In Washington, Turkish lobbying deputies pushed against the resolution until the very last moment. Speaking to Turkish television channel NTV, opposition Republican People’s Party deputy Şükrü Elekdağ said, “The US administration has left Turkey alone.”

Suat Kınıklıoğlu of the ruling Justice and Development Party said the supporters of the measure did not expect such a close vote, claiming the outcome taught them a lesson.

The non-binding resolution now heads to a floor vote at the House of Representatives, where its prospects for passage are uncertain. The House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat who supports the resolution, will decide if or when it will come to a floor vote.

The resolution the committee endorsed calls on President Barack Obama to ensure that U.S. policy formally refers to the killings as “genocide” and to use that term when he delivers his annual message on the issue in April – something he avoided doing last year.

Gül’s call

Turkey has been warning that any House or Senate floor adoption of an Armenian “genocide” resolution would lead to a major and lasting deterioration in relations with the United States and sabotage a planned reconciliation process with Yerevan.

Earlier, Turkish President Abdullah Gül urged Obama to use his influence to block the resolution, warning that its adoption would hurt ties between the two NATO allies. “Whatever the outcome is, Turkey will not be the loser. Others will lose from a negative outcome,” said Turkish Parliament Foreign Affairs Commission head Murat Mercan, one of a group of Turkish deputies who traveled to Washington, D.C., to lobby against the resolution.

Similar “genocide” resolutions passed the same committee in 2000, 2005 and 2007, but none of them could reach a House floor vote because of extensive pressure from former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.

The Clinton and Bush administrations strongly opposed the previous Armenian “genocide” resolutions, saying their congressional passage would deeply hurt U.S. national-security interests. But the Obama administration has thus far declined to play the national-security card on this matter.

During his election campaign, Obama pledged to recognize the killings as “genocide,” but refrained from using the term in his message last year to commemorate the killings.

U.S. diplomats in recent weeks have been urging the Turkish government to implement the reconciliation process with Armenia without any preconditions, saying that in the absence of this action, “genocide” resolutions in Congress may be unstoppable.

The Turkish and Armenian foreign ministers signed in October a set of agreements under which Ankara and Yerevan would set up normal diplomatic relations and reopen their land border. But the normalization process is now faltering because of the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Turkey’s close friend and ally.

Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their kin were killed during World War I as the Ottoman Empire fell apart. Turkey firmly rejects the “genocide” label and argues that 300,000 to 500,000 Armenians and at least as many Turks died in what it says was civil strife.

What do you think about Turkey’s own nuclear power plant efforts, do you think that Turkey can survive without her own nuclear power in this geography?

There is something happening all over the world. Some people call it dramatically a nuclear renaissance; they are talking about the world going from 350 nuclear power plants to as many as a 1000 by the end of the century. Nuclear power, and president Obama spoke of this in the State of the Union categorically not very long ago, has to be part of the solution to the world’s big problems. Development, we need energy for development and there is no question about that. But then also climate change and global warming; nuclear power is for all the challenges that can come with it in terms of waste and so forth that we think are salvable. Nuclear power has to be part of the next solution here. So there is a world coming where I think what we will see is more civilian nuclear power plants that are constructive and I think Turkey ought to be part of that, and I know Turkey is looking very closely at getting into that game and I would encourage that, especially given the fact that Turkey, nobody doubts Turkey’s bona fides. This is for a very huge nation, big industrial base, you need energy and nuclear is an excellent source of so called base load energy so I would encourage the pursuit of that.

Who will enter Turkey first, the Russians or the United States?

I don’t know the Turkish scene, I apologize for that but it’s up to Turkey. It has to make sovereign decisions and some of those will be based on commercial considerations. It’s up to Turkey to decide with whom they deal and cooperate with and who they make arrangements with and make commercial purchases with. The truth is, like a lot of sophisticated technologically advanced industries, it’s become very international so it’s a little bit different to say will it be Russia or the U.S. These are big multinationals and very often these plants being built, they have components of technologies from all parts of the world. Like even a car today that is built from bits and parts from all over the world and this is tremendously similar. So I can’t predict whether it will be Russia, or America or France. It will be whoever works best for Turkey.

Asli Kandemir – 22.02.2010

Anadolu Group wants to boost installed power capacity to more than 2,000 megawatts and is talking to potential partners about energy activities, said Tuncay Ozilhan, chairman of the conglomerate.

Turkey’s power consumption looks set to rise 4-6 percent this year, but the lack of major recent power infrastructure investment has given rise to worries that Turkey’s electricity production capacity may not be enough to cover consumption.

Beer-to-energy group Anadolu plans to build a 1,200 megawatt coal-fired plant in northern Turkey and to invest $150 million in a 90 megawatt hydroelectric power plant in Georgia, which could begin operating in 2014.

The Turkish government wants to cut the state’s role in energy, where it controls about 80 percent of generation and capacity, and has resumed privatisations of power grids.

Turkey’s Privatisation Administration last week auctioned off four power grids for a total of $1.53 billion.

Analysts and government sources say the European Union candidate country needs to attract between $3-5 billion in investment annually for the next five years if it does not want to suffer from blackouts amidst higher consumption as the country’s economic activity starts rising again this year.

Turkey’s energy sector has drawn considerable foreign interest in recent years, with players such as Verbund and CEZ entering power production, but the global downturn has slowed investments. Last month Ozilhan said he expected total growth for Anadolu Group of 5-6 percent in 2010.

Source: Reuters,

Greece’s Metka places EUR110m order with Siemens for Turkish CCGT equipment

23 February 2010 – Siemens Energy has secured a EUR110m order to supply key components for the Denizli combined-cycle power plant in Turkey. The Greek company METKA is building the plant for the project company RWE & Turcas Guney Elektrik Uretim, in which RWE holds a 70 per cent stake and Turkas 30 per cent. Start of commercial operation slated for 2012.

The new combined-cycle power plant with an installed capacity of approximately 775 MW will be located on the outskirts of Denizli in west Anatolia, a region with strong economic growth. The Siemens scope of supply encompasses two SGT5-4000F gas turbines, one SST5-5000 steam turbine, three SGen5-1000A air-cooled generators, the associated electrical equipment and SPPA-T3000 instrumentation & controls.

Dear Energy Professional, Dear Colleagues,

In Chamber of Mechanical Engineers, we have initiated to list the important big size (>35MWe) thermal power plants in operation, in construction and in project design phases in the local market. Public owned thermal power list was relatively easy since it was tabulated by EUAS and details were made public. It was hard to find the design parameters of privately owned thermal power plants. In order to collect the latest figures for the private enterprises, we have sourced the latest information which are released in EPDK and their own web sites. Here is the latest list,

Thermal power plants currently in operation, in order of magnitude,

EnkaPower Natural Gas fired Combined Cycle Power Plant, in Adapazari, Gebze, Izmir Aliaga, with total 3830 MWe
Isken Sugözü, Evonik+ Oyak JV, imported coal (6000 kcal / kg LHV) conventional thermal power plant with total 1320 MWe
Aksa Kazancı Holding Antalya, Natural Gas fired Combined Cycle Power Plant in Selimiye and Kovanli villages with total 1150 MWe
Baymina Ankara Suez, Natural Gas firing Combined cycle power plant with total 770 MWe
Chayırhan ParkHolding, local minemouth coal (2800 kcal / kg LHV) firing conventional thermal power plant with total 4×160 MWe
Tekirdag Uni-Mar IPR, Natural Gas fired Combined Cycle power plant in Tekirdağ with total 480 MWe
Tekirdag Trakya Elektrik Gama Holding, Natural Gas fired Combined Cycle power plant with total 478 MWe
SABANCI EnerjiSA, Natural Gas fired Combined cycle power plants in Adana-Mersin, Çanakkale-Izmit, with total 455 MWe
Zorlu Energy, Natural Gas fired Combined Cycle, in Bursa, Lüleburgaz, Sincan, Kayseri with Total 420 MWe
Bisash Bursa Natural Gaz fired Combined Cycle Power Plant with total 410 MWe
Akenerji Natural Gas fired Combined cycle, in Yalova, Bozöyük, Çerkezköy, Izmir, Alaplı with Total 357.6 MWe
Entek Electric/ Koç Holding, Natural Gas fired Combined Cycle Power plant, in Bursa, Izmit Total 300 MWe
Habash LNG fired Combined Cycle in Izmir with total 300 MWe
KARABIGA ICHDASH imported coal firing (6000 kcal / kg LHV) CFB thermal power plant with 2×135 MWe
OvaElektrik Çolakoğlu NaturalGas firing Combined Cycle power plant, 253 MWe
Doga Energy Esenyurt Istanbul, Natural gas fired combined cycle power plant with total 180 MWe
Silopi / Shirnak ParkHolding, local Asphaltite firing CFB thermal power plant with 135 MWe
Enda Energy, Natural Gas fired Combined cycle Power plant in Antalya OIZ with total 94.38 MWe
Ayen Ostim Ankara, Natural Gas firing combined cycle power plant with total 35 MWe

Thermal power plants in construction with >50% investment spending

Eren Holding Çatalağzı, imported coal (6000 kcal / kg LHV) conventional thermal power plant with total 1360 MWe
Bandirma EnerjiSA SABANCI, Natural Gas firing Combined cycle power plant with total 900 MWe
Borasko Samsun Natural Gas firing Combined cycle power plant with total 800 MWe
RWE Turcas Denizli Natural Gas firing Combined cycle power plant with total 775 MWe

Thermal power plant projects under leasing scheme,

Çankırı Orta, ÇALIK Energy 100 MWe
Bolu Göynük Aksa Enerji 150 MWe
Tekirdağ Saray 300 MWe
Bursa Keles (cancelled)
Adana Tufanbeyli EnerjiSA 450 MWe
Soma-C, 2×300 MWe (at tendering stage)
Afsin Elbistan C-D-E (at tendering stage)

We wish all success to our private thermal power plant operators, and investors in their works. With Deepest Regards.

—
Haluk Direskeneli, Ankara based Energy Analyst,

Dear Colleagues,

A local investment holding company announced last Sunday in Hurriyet Daily News that they placed total 1.6 billion US Dollar investment in Zonguldak Catalagzi thermal power plant, and they created 3500 new jobs, of which 1500 of them would be workers from China.

The project won award of year 2009 from Project Finance magazine of EuroMoney group.

Investment decision is given in year 2008, and construction initiated in year 2008. Project is financed by local Guaranty and Isbank.

They have 3500 workers at site for plant construction. First unit with 160 MWe is completed. Second and third units each with 600 MWe are in construction and expected to be completed later this year. Upon completion of total 1360 MWe, the new plant will generate 5% of total Turkish electricity generation capacity.

Coal will be imported from Ukraine. In order to unload the incoming imported coal, the investor company has built the Black Sea’s largest port next to the plant with an investment of 220 million dollars. 180 thousand-ton coal capacity ships will bring coal from South Africa, Colombia, Brazil. Plant will need 3.5 million tons of coal per year.

Chinese company CMEC has received the order for second and third units, which will consist of Power Island covering steam boilers and steam turbines. 1 billion 50 million dollar portion project finance is covered by local Guaranty Bank and ISBank.

It was the biggest loans for each of these financing entities. There is no Treasury counter guarantee in this project financing.

We need to evaluate the new plant investment from a broader perspective. Since its cheaper cost in comparison to many alternative fuels, convenience for use, and absence of problems related with storage, the demand for natural gas, which entered the Turkish energy sector from late 1980s onwards, has increased its use up dramatically.

Despite high amounts of natural gas consumption, there is no active gas storage facility in our country at this time. The biggest factor in the increase in natural gas consumption is that the generation of electrical energy is mostly dependent upon imported natural gas.

Initially natural gas was very cheap. Combined cycle power plants firing natural gas were also cheap in unit installed capacity and their construction period were quite fast compared to other power plant constructions.

Now natural gas is NOT so cheap. Our Northern neighbor increased its unit price tremendously. Price is unbearable now. It is a real threat against our national security.

Our eastern neighbor cuts the natural gas flow each New Year putting the force majeure clause as “Act of God”, although it’s their own decision in order to put more pressure on our local government in international politics.

In Turkey, nearly 65% of the imported natural gas is used for generating electricity, and hence 55% of generated electricity is based on natural gas.

We have an enormous energy supply risk on our energy business. That is not because of natural gas but also huge amount of imported coal for our thermal power plants.

“Clean Coal” expression may not be oxymoron anymore, thanks to new modern technologies. However “Imported Coal” is an oxymoron expression. Coal should not be imported. Coal Exporting Countries would certainly be delighted to find countries to export their coal.

Countries should be clever not to import the coal. Desperate countries with limited local fuel resources are to be clever not to import that dirt whatever the desperation is.

Coal is not a fossil fuel only; it comes with its ash, unburnable materials, plus radioactive elements with huge health hazards. That is also import of CO2 emissions which will make you under burden against Kyoto Protocol. Global warming is very sensitive issue.

There was a time when European and U.S. coal producers worried that imported coal might threaten their domestic industry. Several large U.S. companies today own shares in foreign coal mines and sell imported coal in the United States and other countries.

From the customer’s point of view, imported coal has been an option for power plants or industries situated well for delivery– usually at attractive prices—but some have been reluctant, or found infrastructure lacking in the tidewater.

Here we are close to Russian and Ukrainian coal suppliers. On the spot market, South African coal sold out for the year; now it appears South American coal is no longer available. Initially, consumers gave Colombian, Venezuelan, and Indonesian coals a second look because of good prices, because they offer low- and very low-sulfur products, and because they offer some supply diversity.

Prices are currently more volatile in international coal markets, but the low-sulfur coals from South America and Indonesia can in the longer term help keep some domestic mines producing. The two coal types can be blended to “manufacture” blends that meet the emission limit of 1.2 pounds of sulfur dioxide per million Btu, or just to keep it within ranges covered by emission allowances. Because of their Btu levels, some imported coals also react well in reducing nitrous oxide emissions.

Local private companies may be too eager to make partnership with foreign companies to construct new thermal power plants on our beautiful sea shores since imported coal is cheap at first. But who would guarantee the cheap coal prices forever.

Initially we were all expecting cheap natural gas prices for the long term in our feasibility studies. Natural gas is not cheap anymore. Moreover Natural gas has huge energy supply risk.

Imported Coal also has the same energy supply risk as well as environmental hazards. Although our Energy Markets Regulatory Board and the Ministry both keep low profile in licensing the imported coal applications in the local market, we visualize that our local public authorities as well as our local NGOs put high profile reaction to avoid in Imported Coal firing new thermal power plants.

The first thermal power plant firing Columbian imported coal is built in Sugozu seashores of the Mediterranean coast despite of resistance from engineering and other civil organizations.

We visualize the local public reaction to new imported coal firing thermal power plants in Iskenderun Bay, on the Aegean and Mediterranean coasts.

European Union advised their members to utilize their local indigenous lignite to the fullest maximum extent whatever would be the cost. EU furthermore advises its own members to make more investments on renewable energy resources.

The other hand, imported coal has currently reasonable prices in the spot markets,

Now in Richards Bay South Africa FOB coal price is more than 86+ FOB US Dollars per ton

and in Rotterdam ARA coal market for 6000+ kcal/kg LHV, it is now more than 81+ FOB US Dollars per ton, as of last week.

We calculate and compare the US Dollar coal price per 1-million BTU heat capacity gross based. That is 1.75 USD per 1-million BTU for Afsin Elbistan, and 4.24 US Dollar for imported coal, 10.40 USD for natural gas at market figures.

Compared to local mine-mouth prices of less than 8 US Dollars per ton for 1150 kcal/kg LHV in massive Afsin Elbistan lignite mine premises, there is almost no reasoning for imported coal fired thermal power plants in future.

It is our sincere feeling that those investors who dare to invest in “imported coal firing thermal power plants” would have difficulties, and should consider high calculated risks, and high unforeseen cost/ risks in their technology selection, project finance and overall project execution.

Therefore,

We have to reduce dependence on imported fuel/energy that also includes imported coal
We have to reduce energy consumption by improved energy efficiency,
We have to employ maximized local engineering and local qualified work force at all times,
We have to produce more energy from our own local energy resources, wind/ hydro/ local lignite,
We have to develop most efficient processes and use the best technologies CFB, IGCC where applicable, within our own engineering capacity,
We have to control our CO2 emissions to reduce climate change and dangerous health effects,

Though it is late, but as saying goes “It is never too late to mend”.

Your comments are always welcome

—
Haluk Direskeneli, Ankara based Energy Analyst,

FEBRUARY 10, 2010, By AMOL SHARMA, BusinessWeek

MUNDRA, India—India is trying to rein in its heavy reliance on Chinese equipment and know-how for the ambitious expansion of its power sector. The shift casts a shadow over what has been a healthy partnership in an often tense relationship between the giant neighbors.

India wants to boost electricity output by 60% in the five-year span ending March 2012 to alleviate severe shortages and help fuel a rapidly growing economy. But it doesn’t have enough of its own equipment and engineers to meet that goal, so power companies have looked overseas for help. U.S. and European suppliers are too expensive, but low-cost Chinese contractors are a good fit.

Chinese companies are now supplying equipment for about 25% of the new power capacity India is adding to its grid, up from almost nothing a few years ago. They have sent thousands of skilled workers to Indian plant sites, some of which boast Chinese chefs, Chinese television and ping pong.

But now India is reining in cooperation with China as it seeks to build up its own manufacturing base to service power plants. The Central Electricity Authority, India’s top planning body for power projects, recently asked government-controlled power companies to use Indian equipment on all upcoming big projects.

The Indian government is also considering a plan to tax Chinese power imports. And Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s aides have told power regulators to make sure India has enough spare parts on hand to fix Chinese equipment when it needs repairs, according to a person familiar with the discussions.

“It’s better that we depend on our own capabilities rather than depend on those from the outside,” Rakesh Nath, chairman of the Central Electricity Authority, said in an interview.

India has also made it tougher for its companies to bring in foreign workers for contract labor, a move that has had a significant impact on the energy sector. Last fall, the government tightened visa regulations in a move that forced at least 3,000 Chinese workers on power projects to leave the country, slowing progress at many plant sites across India.

Then, in December, India put in place strict new limits so that no more than 1% of a project’s work force can be foreign nationals, with a ceiling of 40 workers for power projects. India’s Ministry of External Affairs declined to comment on the new restrictions.

China’s Ministry of External Affairs has “expressed concerns to India on many occasions” about the visa issue, a ministry spokesman said. “In order to implement these [power] projects successfully … they need to have the necessary technicians from China.”

Shandong Electric Power Construction Corp., or Sepco, one of the most active Chinese power-plant builders in India, had 300 Chinese workers last year helping to build a $4 billion plant in the small town of Mundra, on the northwestern coast of Gujarat state. About 100 had to leave last fall after the Indian government said business visas weren’t valid for such projects.

Some workers are applying for re-entry on employment visas but are struggling. Sepco has scrapped its original plan of ramping up to more than 1,000 people in Mundra.

With the limit of 40 workers per project, “it will be very difficult to make enough progress on projects,” said Li Wei Wei, a Sepco translator who has helped colleagues deal with immigration issues.

The Indian government says restricting Chinese imports will give domestic manufacturers a chance to ramp up production.

The country’s main plant supplier, Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd., has the means to service only about 50% of the power capacity India is planning to add every year, but it plans to double its production to service 20,000 megawatts of power by 2012. Other companies are entering the power-equipment market, like a planned joint venture of Alstom SA of France and India’s Bharat Forge Ltd.

Indian power-generating companies such as Adani Group, Reliance Power Ltd. and KSK Energy Ventures Ltd. haven’t picked just Chinese vendors because of their discount prices. Chinese engineers have plenty of experience building coal-fired plants, India’s main source of power. China generates over 80,000 megawatts of new power capacity a year, about 20 times as much as India.

The arrangement also makes sense for China, which has excess capacity to sell. “India is developing very quickly and badly needs power plants, so we Chinese are here to help,” said Wang Zhexian, a senior engineer at Sepco, which was hired by Adani Group to build a coal-fired plant in Mundra. “They’ve never worked on this kind of plant. It is important that we teach the Indian workers.”

The experience hasn’t always been good. Three Sepco employees were arrested early this year in connection with the collapse of an 820-foot chimney in September at a power plant the company was building in the heartland state of Chhattisgarh. The incident left 40 people dead. The Chinese workers’ plea for bail was rejected and they are in jail awaiting trial, according to the public prosecutor in the case. The workers have yet to enter a plea. Efforts to obtain Sepco comment were unsuccessful.

But overall, Indian executives say Chinese workers are bringing a critical edge that is now at risk. D.P. Joshi, the Adani executive in charge of construction in Mundra, says Chinese engineers have experience building modern plants based on “supercritical” technology, where elevated steam pressure creates a more efficient thermal cycle and lowers costs. And the Chinese firms, he said, can be counted on to deliver materials and engineers quickly, whereas Bharat Heavy Electricals is overbooked.

“Any private player—the one thing he wants is delivery. He wants it on time if he’s putting up so much money,” Mr. Joshi said. If India is to stay on track with its plans, equipment and skilled manpower “has to come from the outside, and it has to come fast.”

Mr. Nath of the Central Electricity Authority acknowledges that Chinese expertise has been important. “We don’t have that amount of skilled manpower in the country,” he said. “That’s something we’ll have to build up.”

Adani, a conglomerate with revenue of $5.7 billion and interests ranging from precious metals trading to vegetable oil, plans to produce 20,000 megawatts of new generating capacity by 2020 through coal-fired plants as well as gas and renewable projects. The Mundra plant, which is being built on 700 acres of barren land in the arid Kutch region of Gujarat state, is scheduled to be completed by 2012.

It will generate 4,620 megawatts of power to help alleviate shortages in western and northern India. When it came to awarding supplier contracts, the company went with Chinese vendors almost exclusively. Sepco was picked as the lead contractor in September 2007. Indian contractors, including Larsen & Toubro Ltd., are providing thousands of construction workers who take orders from the Chinese firms.

Workers broke ground at Mundra in early 2008 and the first segment of the plant—a 330-megawatt unit—was commissioned in May 2009. At its plant site here, Adani created a special Chinese housing “colony.” At the dining hall, a master chef serves home-style dishes like pork dumplings and red-bean bread, while Chinese TV plays in the background. Workers unwind with a game of ping pong or badminton.

Indian and Chinese workers expressed some frustration over differences in the way their cultures approach work. “You give me one work—I will try to finish it in the shortest time,” said Yuan Lei, a 25-year-old who helps write Sepco’s agreements with subcontractors. “But for Indian people they may first [say] ‘Let’s take tea! Let’s enjoy!’ Maybe tomorrow they will finish this work.”

For their part, some of the Indian workers say they can’t keep up with the Chinese pace. They are “so quick compared to Indian—so fast,” said Nilesh Patel, an Indian construction worker at the site.

Still, for some, a strong mutual affection is developing. Last year, a woman from Sepco married an Indian contract engineer. Adani executives keep a Chinese calendar so they are prepared for big events like the coming Spring Festival, or Chinese New Year.

Mr. Joshi says Adani hopes to avoid delays due to the new visa restrictions by having Sepco and other contractors train Indian engineers. In May, Adani is sending 36 of its people to China to study supercritical boiler technology.

The experience of working alongside the Chinese will help India bolster its domestic power sector, said Mr. Wang, the Sepco manager.

“After they’ve worked here they will have more experience, and their efficiency will improve,” he said. “In a few years, they will have their own [supercritical] plants built by their own people.”

—Arlene Chang and Gao Sen contributed to this article.

Dear Energy Professional, Dear Colleagues,

Governor Erdal Ata of Zonguldak province, announced yesterday that 400-ton daily municipality garbage will be disposed/ fired in new thermal power plant investment and the plant will create heat and power, which will be financed by Erenco energy and investment subsidiary of Erdemir Iron and Steel works, within the commercial coverage of ZONÇEB Zonguldak and surrounding municipalities private investment union entity.

400 tons municipality refuse is collected per day in Zonguldak. After firing in an appropriate thermal power plant, 90% of MSW refuse will be converted into heat and power generating 10% ash neutral to dispose into ash dam or even utilised in cement and ceramic industries.

It is also advised that for the establishment of such thermal power plant is not within financial capability of ZONÇEB, however the investor Erenco will investigate local and financial sources for project financing with support of Ministry officials.

At this time, wild dumping of municipality is the current procedure for waste disposal. That is too dangerous. Contagious material is released to the environment, land and sea both in municipality waste disposal land near Catalagzi.

Governor Ata, continued to speak as follows:

“Erenco, an engineering and investment subsidiary of Erdemir, called us about a month ago, and they advised that they are constructing a thermal power plant for municipality refuse disposal in Baku Azerbaijan. They can also do the same thing here in our own cities, starting with Zonguldak, their home city.”

Erenco also made a presentation about the technical details of the proposal. Project and development ideas are fine with the city pubic administration. However Erenco is only interested in the engineering portion of the scope.

So they created the project and expect ZONÇEB to participate into project financing. They advised that they have no financial power as to ZONÇEB has. The project is expected to cost around 25-30 million euros to fire the complete municipality refuse and furthermore to generate approximately 15 MWe electricity output.

Their investment budget may be too small compared to 90 million Euros world market estimations based on 150,000 tons per year at 600 Euros per ton.

Erenco and Erdemir could handle the local in-house engineering, contracting and plant operation. Zonguldak ZONCEB is expected to solve the financial support and project financing at this point.

This will be a great opportunity for municipality refuse disposal systems in thermal power plants in other provinces. Plant will employ approximately 100 local engineers and 1000 qualified workers for 2-3 years of engineering and construction period, and further 40-50 qualified workers during plant operation in future. So in the end, parties decided to apply to Ministry of Energy and other public regulatory administrations for appropriate licensing, EIA approvals and support for project financing.

We are pleased to learn such good news and hope to have similar developments in future in other provinces for refuse disposal thermal power plant constructions with maximised local engineering and local employment.

Your comments are always welcome

—
Haluk Direskeneli, Ankara based Energy Analyst

Dear Energy Professional, Dear Colleagues,

An international energy/ power investor company is partner of 480 Mwe combined cycle power plant on Tekirdag sea coast in Thrace Turkey for last 10 years.

The Company is now considering partnering with another local investment group to build a new local bituminous coal firing thermal power plant in Amasra to generate 1200 MWe electricity output to the national grid.

The local partner investor group has received 49-years of coal production concession right. Both parties are now negotiating on the final MoU draft, and hoping to sign the MoU document in next two weeks time.

Earlier the local investment group has prepared an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report to get permission from the Ministry of Environment, which is needed to get power plant investment licensing from the energy markets regulatory board.

At that time the investment capacity was presumed to be 2640 Mwe comprising 4x 660 MWe units, firing approximately total 1000 tons of coal per hour, where the local coal has 3500 local/kg LHV as received, 5800 kcal/kg LHV after water washing enrichment.

I spent a few nights to read the EIA report, in the end I was displeased with the technical quality of the report and concluded that the report was not so professional, so basic, even somewhat misleading, even could be presumed to be far from realities in certain chapters.

Our calculation relieves 1300 tons per hour coal with 5800 kcal/kg LHV after water washing enrichment of as received bituminous. With 7000 hours of estimated annual operation, the plant will consume 7 million tons of enriched coal or 10 million tons per year as received.

Overall local bituminous coal production was 1.2 million per year in year 2008, now which is corrected to 2 million tons in year 2009. Therefore the plant will consume 5 times of the current production of the local coal reserves. How will this happen? Isn’t it misleading?

Partners should make the risk assessment for coal supply and electricity sales.

Now the new foreign company is in the picture with the local investor with half the earlier output generation not 2640 MWe but for 1200 MWe, in 2 units of 600 each.

We understand that the foreign investor company has 3 similar coal firing references in the world, 1000 MWe Rugeley Power plant in England, Pego 2×300 MWe in Portugal and 2×615 MWe Paiton Indonesia (+800 MWe new) all burning high LHV bituminous coal.

However all these plants have same common weaknesses. They are seriously lacking environmental equipment, E/Ps are not sufficient to collect all outgoing fly-ash, and first two references do not have FGD systems at this point. These FGD systems are added now due to local or international public pressure.

The Foreign Partner Company has to have more environmental sensitivity in their own plants. They have small E/Ps and lack of FGDs in their coal plants. That means they can not collect dust properly, they can not collect sulphur but pour all to atmosphere.

Should we interpret this situation as opportunism, or greed, or ignorance to public health and safety? Which state of art technology will be employed in the plant design? And what employment opportunities are waiting for the local people??

How should we interpret? Is that they presume all local people ignorant, illiterate, unable to make calculation, unable to read technology?

They have money to invest in poor technology with no care to beautiful environment of the Black Sea coast, we need electricity generation and we comply with all that information rubbish. Is this what is expected?

We understand that the partners will finance the project 30% from their own sources and the remaining 70% through project financing. That means they will need serious bankable feasibility and EIA reports with full compliance to European standards and norms to emission limitations. They will need serious plant design, to run smoothly for many years. They will need full compliance to local and EU laws and regulations and local expectations for maximized local employment.

We only get pleased to read such news on new energy investments in our local energy market, provided that

– They are designed environmentally friendly, to enable low CO2 emissions with CCS,
– They consume maximized amount of local coal,
– They have E/Ps, FGD, CCS fully installed and operated, and meet EU standards
– They have completed all obligations for Environmental Impact Assessment Reports,
– They receive their license from the Local Regulatory Board,
– They are designed by local engineering companies or in-house engineering as much as possible,
– They are fabricated in the local fabrication plants as much as possible,
– They are installed by our local contractors,
– They are commissioned and supervised by our local engineering power,
– They are operated by our own local staff, and
– Regularly checked by our own Labor force in programmed maintenance.

We only get pleased to read investment, and sincerely feel that energy investors deserve all our support to complete those power plant investments. On the other hand, there is great risk in project finance of such investments due to public response.

Those companies, who are ignorant of local workforce employment expectations, and neglecting local engineering contribution, neglecting world class environmental limitations, will surely deserve the highest level of local resistance in legal platforms.

They may have too much of a headache during project execution; therefore, the project finance institutions should make their risk assessments carefully.

We would like to warn them not to make any technical mistakes in their power plant design, avoid incorrect selection of the necessary basic equipment, as well as environmental requirements, and wish them to operate the plant for many years, to generate electricity which will push our economic prosperity.

The investors should feel comfortable that we shall be warning them for proper design, sourcing fabrication, site installation, logistics, and public approvals.

We all expect that these energy investments will bring prosperity, employment and peace to the site.

Maximized local manpower, as well as maximized local engineering/ fabrication/ site installation capabilities should be employed.

May God bless them with wisdom for all those who need. May God save you and forgive you for making any mistakes in your risk assessment. God bless you all.

Haluk Direskeneli, Ankara based Energy Analyst,

Dear Colleagues, Dear Energy Professional

METU Visnelik Ankara Alumni Association Energy Working Group announces the upcoming Panel on

“Copenhagen Climate Change conference and final evaluations afterwards”

on 6th February 2010 Saturday at 1330 hours in Ankara Alumni premises main Conference room.

Speakers are key professionals from Public and Private enterprises who have participated to the Copenhagen Conference as participants.

Panel is open for all interested parties and it is free-of charge. Panel speeches will be given in Turkish language however presentations could be in English.

For further information and/or clarification, please feel free to call 0312 2867979 Ext. 1120. Best regards

Liebe Kolleginnen und Kollegen,

Wir sind dankbar, dass Herr Jürgen Klute, Mitglied des Europäischen Parlaments für seine Unterstützung unserer Vertriebenen lokalen Tabak Arbeitnehmer heute in Ankara.

Seine Unterstützung ist sehr wichtig für uns. Diese Arbeitnehmer werden von ihrem Arbeitsplatz entlassen. Sie sind arbeitslos. Sie haben keine Arbeit und keinen Job.

Sie sind arbeitslos, da sie ließ die Regierung die Entscheidungen, um sie arbeitslos werden.

Die meisten von ihnen stimmten für die regierende Partei. Das ist die Ironie. Ihr Verfasser möchte darauf hinweisen, eine ähnliche kontinuierliche Tätigkeit.

In dieser Zeit können die Ingenieure nicht finden, Arbeitsplätze in den lokalen Markt. Junge qualifizierte Arbeitskräfte nicht finden können Arbeitsplätze. Da die lokalen Investoren platziert Turn-Key-Verträge nach dem Fernen Osten (China, Indien, Korea) Unternehmen. Far East Unternehmen bringen ihre Arbeitnehmer mit dem Schiff, halten das Schiff vor der Küste vor Anker, wenn die Anlage an Land.

Sie lassen die ausländische Arbeitnehmer arbeiten im Kraftwerk Website Bau Lokale, 12 Stunden pro Tag, 7 Tage pro Woche. Sie sind meist Sträflinge oder Fußsoldaten. 3 Sie schlafen in einem Bett. Sanitäranlagen sind schrecklich, unzureichende Zahl von Toiletten und Duschen. Pay niedrigsten ist oder gar keine.

Wir dulden, dass die Bedingungen in unserer site-Anlagen in Karabiga, Çatalağzı, Beypazari, Şırnak, Iskenderun Bucht, die zur thermischen Kraftwerken Brennen Importkohle zu bauen. Unsere öffentliche Unternehmen don’t care,

Daß die Sklaverei. Das niedrig ist Der Verkauf der chinesischen Industrieanlagen, schlechtes Design, aber billigen Preis im Wettbewerb auf Weltklasse-Designs der Welt. Diese Praxis-Blöcke auch lokale Engineering-Kapazitäten und die Entwicklung der lokalen Design für die schlechte Qualität Kohlefeuerung Systeme.

Der Bau der ein mittlerer Größe (150 MW) Kraftwerk muss mindestens 100 Ingenieure für die Konstruktion, Fertigung, Projektmanagement-Funktionen und mehr als 1000 qualifizierte Arbeitskräfte vor Ort für die Installation.

Wenn Sie die Bestellung schlüsselfertig an FarEast Unternehmen, dann löschen Sie alle lokalen Beschäftigungsmöglichkeiten in den lokalen Markt. Wenn eine Investition schafft keine Arbeitsplätze Engineering für lokale Unternehmen und schafft keine Arbeitsplätze für einheimische Arbeitskräfte, dann tun wir nicht brauchen dieses Projekt.

Örtliche Gewerkschaften / Gewerkschaften / politischen Parteien sind dump / nicht in der Lage, die Beschwerden zu hören. Es ist meine aufrichtige Gefühl, daß die Europäische Union den öffentlichen Institute warnen sollte, dass die Sklaverei zu stoppen.

Ihre Kommentare, und EU-Warnhinweise für Korrekturmaßnahmen werden sehr geschätzt werden. Mit besten Grüßen

—
Haluk Direskeneli, Ankara based Energie Analyst,

Dear Energy Professional, Dear Colleagues,

As your self assigned local energy analyst, I tried to forecast the expectations in the New Year in our local energy markets. As you know, economy and business are governed by expectations. Market expectations are important in the economic forecasts as well as investments.

At this time, there are many economic forecasts made by the newspaper columnists however as we all see there are almost none in energy markets.

So with my humble capacity, I tried to draft a forecast albeit maybe somewhat irrational/ unfair for the New Year. Here are my predictions and expectations,

 There will be some surprise developments in our Public Enterprises of Energy sector including one occurrence dramatically in very near future. Sudden and rapid privatization could be realized.

 Experienced senior GMs of public enterprises will be promoted to upper consultancy posts, and then transferred to upper posts of private enterprise boards. New arrivals to those vacated posts will consume the remaining time rest of the year to get education necessary for the new posts they got; hence they will not take any initiative.

 World Bank and IMF delegations will have more visits to our Energy Ministry, Energy Regulatory Board, State Planning Organization, and Business Associations. Smiling faces will appear in the local media.

 Ministry of Energy will be looking for new projects to follow without considering that any initiative in energy sector gets its response in 10 year time in future. We all know that there is no fast solution.

 Newspaper columnists will continue to write ridiculous articles on energy business and continue to make confusions in “volt” and “watt”.

 Electrical Energy Market Law Nr. 4628 will be changed again. Some Clauses will be deleted. Some new Clauses will be inserted.

 Nuclear power plant tender in Sinop province will be released in June. Locals will always appeal, no one will listen to them as usual, and finally tender will be canceled again in two years time.

 Akkuyu Nuclear Power plant contract which would be a sort of “I did it my way” scheme will be signed with the Russians between government to government agreements. However parliament approval sessions will continue until the general election which is 17 months ahead from today.

 Location search for new nuclear power plants will be moved from hot waters of Mediterranean to Black Sea coast. However Nuclear power plant construction plans in Sinop will be suspended due to stiff local NGO reactions. New options will emerge in İğneada and Hopa since their local reactions would be expected less.

 Nuclear technology education in Istanbul Technical University will lead the national curriculum with their new MSc and PhD programs. METU will stay behind and continue to say “This subject is not on our agenda”.

 Local investors will initiate to build new thermal power plants in Amasra firing “indigenous coal” where we all know that there is no sufficient amount of local coal to run the power plants in the long term. They will soon try to switch to imported coal option. People and NGOs of Amasra will react to thermal power plants. However Chinese companies will occupy the region. They will soon open restaurants, markets, laundries.

 Natural Gas bill will be completed. Pipeline public company will extend a portion of the contract. Termination of the public natural gas monopoly and market dominance is long-term wishful thinking.

 Black Sea offshore drilling will be initiated. At least once every month, we shall read “Large quantities of Gas / Petrol found, sufficient for local consumption” in the news media.

 Those who know and those who do not know, those who are capable and not capable, will all apply to get investment license to construct new imported coal firing thermal power plants on the shores of Iskenderun Bay. Public will react to such excessive crowd.

 People and NGOs of Iskenderun, Payas, Dörtyol counties will stand up for serious environmental concerns on new excessive number of imported coal firing thermal power plants. Other than environmental concerns, local people will feel that they have all the legal rights to block through local courts since there will be neither participation of local employment nor any local engineering in the new investments.

 In early 2010, Iran will cut-off the Natural Gas flow again due to excessive needs of her own domestic market for at least 1-month. Russians will increase capacity in the Blue Stream for a premium as usual.

 HEPP investments and dam construction activies will be increased on the small beautiful creeks of Eastern Black Sea coast. Our high tempered Black Sea coast citizens will not be so pleased with the outcome. Our NGO “Do not touch my Creek” will have rise in public appearance.

 TV programs will be increased over the Ilisu Dam. All these programs will have Tigris pasture image in the background accompanied with the sheep and pathetic background music. Everyone will memorize these photographs of sheep and the ruins.

 Afsin Elbistan A power plant rehabilitation will be tendered. There will be not sufficient participation and in the end it will be cancelled again.

 Tender for new Afsin Elbistan C-D units will be released. Due to excessive financial risks, participation will be limited and the tender will be canceled again because of high prices.

 Soma thermal power plant will be sold / privatized.

 Ladies of Straw Mountain will react to wind power plants in their Samandağ region. No one will listen to them. EIA report will not be needed. There will be no land, slope, hill left without wind towers.

 Wind power plant investments in Çesme Peninsula will continue till the end of this year. Energy Transmission problems will be of high concern.

 Local production of Wind power plants will continue. JV news will increase, for the smallest power generation not less than 3 MW, Prototypes will be displayed with public inaugurations.

 Yenikoy and Kangal rehabilitations will be completed. Foreign OEM companies, who got contracts without competitive tendering, will have good earnings compared to the work that they spent. “Black Coal / Black Energy” court investigations/ prosecutions may start.

 Antalya 1150 MWe CCPP will run at full capacity later this year. Feasibilities for additional 1500 MWe will be initiated. Since the plant cooling system will consume huge amount of drinking water, there will be extreme water shortage in the region in summer time. Investment expansion is foreseen to double the capacity. People of the province will understand the seriousness of the situation soon.

 900 MW CCPP will be completed in August in Bandirma. Preliminary works for the new 1000 MWe additional capacity second plant will start. Meanwhile Bandirma will have domestic / foreign investor invasion, agricultural areas will be narrowed.

 The local companies that sell their capital equity shares to foreigners will face excessive / unnecessary expenditures in foreign engineering/ foreign equipment. Foreign partners will purchase only from their own home countries with expensive OEM costs. Ultimately, because of excessive unnecessary costs, locals will feel the need reconsideration of the contracts with their JV foreign partners.

 The set up for new thermal power plants in unexploited local coal regions in auctions will result in a kind of absence. The search for new solutions on this issue will be in the agenda again in the second half of the year.

 CCPP investments will continue in Samsun province based on Natural gas firing due to Blue Stream. Energy transmission will have difficulties.

 Solar thermal power plants will appear in Konya plato where agriculture is not so profitable. Local production means will be investigated. In the end, solar panels from China will dominate the local market since they are cheaper than those that manufactured in local industrial zones.

 De-grading due to excessive wear and tear in Chinese made local thermal power plants will emerge. Early rehabilitation requirements will start. Cheap Chinese companies will get rehab and long-term operation contracts in the local market.

 Distribution Privatizations will continue. All public distribution systems will be privatized. Main opposition party will need more office space to accommodate the law firms they will hire in order to apply to the Constitutional Court.

 Ministry of Environment will approve incoming EIA applications with little worry over local NGO reactions or any scrutiny to the environmental hazards of the new investments due to ever increasing concern over upcoming energy shortage.

 Local energy markets regulatory agency will continue to release licenses to those who know or don’t know the technology, those who have financial capability or those who do not have, but to all those who complete the necessary forms.

 Public Agency will start to complain that the new building is too small for ever increasing staff. They will start to investigate new land purchase in Gölbaşı County to move.

 Medium age of Board members will be much more reduced in Public Agencies. New university graduates will be assigned as Board members, provided that they have taken top grades in Thermodynamics.

 Investors will have investment licenses all expired soon. Renewable energy entrepreneurs will not be able to sell their licenses. The negotiation traffic will get increased in the halls of the Agency.

 Since Ministry of Environment accepts all incoming EIA applications without serious scrutiny, local NGO reactions and court applications will be alarmingly increased.

We were able to predict this much. We shall be too pleased to receive your comments/ contributions in the New Year. Happy and Prosperous New Year to you all !

—
Haluk Direskeneli, Hamburg based Energy Analyst

MOSCOW, Russia From wire dispatches Wednesday, January 13, 2010- Hurriyet Daily News

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan held talks with Russian leaders Wednesday. While most discussions focused on oil pipelines, the two countries signed a joint declaration to cooperate in building Turkey’s first nuclear power plant.

The declaration was signed in Moscow by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin and Turkey’s Energy Minister Taner Yıldız. In November, Turkey canceled plans to award a contract to Russia’s ZAO Atomstroyexport to build the plant.

Meanwhile, at a joint press conference in Moscow, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Erdoğan discussed increasing the use of the two countries’ national currencies in trade. Erdoğan said using national currencies are important because of fluctuations in world currency markets during.

Erdoğan was also expected to propose scrapping the visa regime between the two countries as part of what looks like Ankara’s new strategy of “visa diplomacy.”

“I have spoken to [Prime Minister Vladimir] Putin about this before. I will bring it up again when we meet. I will suggest lifting the visa regime with Russia as well. At least in some areas we expect cooperation toward no visa requirements,” Erdoğan said, according to the Doğan news agency. Turkey has removed visa restrictions with at least Albania, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya and Syria in the last six months.

Delivering a speech at a conference on “Turkey’s Foreign Policy” at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, Erdoğan said the Turkish government built its foreign policy on “winning and making friends.”

Erdoğan said the Turkish government’s initial step with this objective was settlement of peace with all countries, indicating that the target had been achieved.

“Turkey lives in peace with all countries in the region. The steps that have been taken in areas of politics, military, economics, trade and culture are all obvious expressions of it,” Erdoğan said. “Turkey is a country where constitutional and legal amendments were rapidly made to human rights, freedoms, democracy and the rule of law. Turkey is also a pioneering force of a civilization project where prosperity and permanent stability prevail. Turkey has fulfilled this with the steps taken on the ‘Alliance of Civilizations,’” he said, referring to the United Nations-sponsored initiative begun by Turkey and Spain.

Erdoğan said big steps were taken to improve relations between Turkey and neighboring Armenia. He said urgent steps were needed to end the occupation of Azerbaijani land, however, adding that the OSCE Minsk 3 Group had a vital role to play in this matter and should continue to perform its duty. The group consists of the United States, France and Russia, and Erdoğan said he believed Moscow could play a more active role in the process. He said the Nagorno-Karabakh problem had not been solved for 20 years even though the group was established to solve the issue.

Turkey in August agreed to allow Moscow to start surveys of its territorial waters in the Black Sea for Russia’s South Stream pipeline, which aims to pump Russian gas to Europe via a new route that bypasses Ukraine.

But Ankara is also a leading player in the European Union-backed Nabucco pipeline, which aims to carry gas from the Caspian Sea region to Europe and is seen as a way of reducing European reliance on Russian gas.

“The energy sphere has a very important significance. In this, we share a very developed cooperation,” Erdoğan told Russian President Dimitry Medvedev in talks at his country residence outside Moscow. “Not only in the sphere of natural gas but in crude products, there exists a whole series of opportunities … I see this meeting as a huge opportunity.”

Medvedev, in turn, hailed the countries’ “serious and major” cooperation. “The Russian-Turkish relationship is improving. It is really a strategic partnership,” he said.

Erdoğan will later also meet with his Russian counterpart Putin for talks underscoring the warming relations between the former Cold War-era foes. A joint press conference is expected after the meeting.

NATO member Turkey, which has long pursued EU membership, has sought to downplay rivalry between the pipelines.

The daily Kommersant said there is speculation Ankara wants Moscow to participate in Nabucco and believes the need for South Stream may be reduced once Viktor Yushchenko, a foe of Russia, departs the Ukrainian presidency. “However, Moscow is not prepared to give up its beloved child,” the newspaper added, referring to South Stream.

It is unclear whether gas supplies are sufficient to fill two pipelines, and Moscow is keen to complete South Stream ahead of its rival, with plans to go online with the pipeline’s section in Turkish waters as early as 2013.

The construction of Turkey’s first nuclear power plants and plans to extend the existing Blue Stream gas pipeline linking the two countries are also on the agenda, the Kremlin said in a statement.

Turkey in turn is seeking Russian support for a planned Turkish oil pipeline to be built from the Black Sea port of Samsun to Ceyhan on the Mediterranean. Russia will play an active role in the project and the two sides are in talks over Moscow taking a stake, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin told reporters on the sidelines of the meetings.

Talks are also expected to focus on security in the Caucasus region, where Turkey is increasingly presenting itself as a major diplomatic player. Turkey and Russia have joined efforts to broker peace between ex-Soviet states Azerbaijan and Armenia, which are still technically at war over the mountainous Nagorno-Karabakh region.

Shared concerns over stability in the Caucasus were tested as Russia fought a brief war with Georgia in August 2008, but Moscow has since played a role in the recent rapprochement between Turkey and its ally Armenia.

Russia is one of Turkey’s top trading partners and its main gas supplier, accounting for about 60 percent of the country’s gas imports. The countries had bilateral trade ties of $33.8 billion in 2008, the Kremlin said.