Work to Begin on Turkey's Gas-Fired Hamitabat Plant

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--It's full steam ahead for a new gas-fired power plant in northwest Turkey, after project owner Limak Holding (Ankara, Turkey) secured 395 million euro ($438 million) in final financing.

Limak announced that the funding from a number of banks covers the estimated 520 million-euro ($577 million) cost of building the new Hamitabat combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) power plant near the city of Lüleburgaz, in the Kırklareli province.

The new plant will be built on the site of the existing plant, Turkey's first gas-fired facility, which was commissioned in 1985 and has a generating capacity of 1,156 megawatts (MW). The new plant will have a generating capacity of 1,200 MW. According to Nihat Ozdemir, Limak's chairman, efficiency will jump from today's 38% to 62% when the plant is commissioned in June 2017.

Limak Holding plans to invest $1 billion this year to boost its power generation portfolio to more than 5,000 MW in the next five years from the current capacity total of 3,000 MW. Ozdemir added: "According to our predictions, after 2017, there will be an energy deficit (in electricity) in Turkey."

Engineering company Siemens AG (NYSE:SI) (Munich, Germany) has been chosen by construction contractor GAMA (Ankara) to supply two SGT5-8000H gas turbines, along with steam turbines and generators. The components are to be installed in two single-shaft units, and each plant will consist of a SGT5-8000H gas turbine, SST5-5000 steam turbine, SGen5-3000W generator and the associated turbine I&C systems. Siemens also will provide technical services during erection and commissioning.

"This order for two H-class turbines will reinforce our position as the market leader in Turkey for this innovative and, at the same time, proven power plant technology," said Marco Hoffart, head of Sales Large Gas Turbine packages at Siemens' Power and Gas division.

The gas turbines will be produced in Siemens' Berlin gas turbine-manufacturing plant, with the steam turbines and generators being fabricated at the company's Mülheim plant.

The win is significant for Siemens, which just recently completed the first firing of the same turbine at the new 595-MW CCGT power plant in Lausward, Germany. The company's chief executive officer, Joe Kaeser, believes that future sales of its turbines will not be in Germany, however, where he claimed the government's support of renewables is killing sales of the company's fossil fuel-related products. For additional information, see June 2, 2015, article - Germany's Lausward Finishes, Fires CCGT Plant.

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