Posted by meb at July 10th, 2008

Turkish Environment and Forestry Minister Veysel Eroğlu said on Wednesday that since last year the Turkish private sector had submitted applications as part of the law on water use rights agreements to construct 1,461 hydroelectric power plants to produce 65 billion kilowatt hours (kWh) of energy, which would take 50 years if the state was the sole investor. Upon completion these investments will generate an annual income of $58 billion for Turkey, the minister noted.

Speaking at a groundbreaking ceremony in Ankara for 61 hydroelectric power plants to be built by the State Waterworks Authority (DSİ) and private sector investors, Eroğlu expressed excitement at seeing such a big step toward saving Turkey’s energy future. “We will transfer the ownership of energy investments worth $25 billion from the central management budget to the private sector,” he said. “We needed at least 50-60 years to realize the production of 20,000 megawatts of energy. I’m guessing that those private companies who have applied for the construction of hydroelectric power plants can complete 80 percent of the projects in 4-5 years.”

Eroğlu also underlined that approximately $8 billion of energy per year was wasted as rivers flowed without aiding the energy production process. To capitalize on these rivers’ potential, the government issued a set of regulations on the Principles and Procedures for Obtaining a Water-Use Rights Agreement, Eroğlu recalled, identifying this step as a turning point. “Think about it. Turkey was able to utilize only 25 percent of its total potential in hydroelectricity resources for the last 60 years. In other words, only 30 billion kWh of the potential 130 billion kWh was being utilized,” he said to picture the ineffective situation before they aimed to the pull the private sector in the business with alluring incentives.

He cited several estimates saying Turkey needed between 230 billion and 237 billion kWh of electricity by 2010 if it continued its current economic and population growth rates. This demand will surge to somewhere between 406 billion and 499 billion kWh by 2020, an increase of 8 percent annually in electricity demand.

The private sector applications so far as water use rights agreements, which envisage the establishment of hydroelectricity power plants at numerous spots in Turkey, including some rivers, ensures 20,646 megawatts of additional capacity to Turkey’s electricity generation abilities. These projects will also provide employment in the construction as well as operation phases.
source: Today’s Zaman