Istanbul (Platts)--27Dec2012/1254 pm EST/1754 GMT
Turkey will sign a major coal field and power plant development agreement with Abu Dhabi energy company TAQA January 3, a spokesman for TAQA told Platts Thursday. The spokesman confirmed that the agreement will cover the renovation of an existing 1,400 MW power plant utilizing lignite from Turkey's giant Afsin-Elbistan lignite field as well as the construction of up to 7 GW of new generating plant utilizing lignite from the same field. The spokesman added the construction of the new capacity is expected to take over a decade to complete and that TAQA hopes soon to establish a joint venture with Turkey's state power generating company EUAS in order to finalize details of the scope of the development and the structure of the project. Reports in the Turkish media quoted energy minister Taner Yildiz as stating that the deal will be worth around $12 billion. Turkish officials were not immediately available for comment. The existing 1,400 MW plant to be renovated is the EUAS operated Afsin-Elbistan B plant which consists of four 360 MW units and construction of which was completed in 2006 but which has been unable for some years to operate at full capacity due to unspecified problems. The Afsin-Elbistan field holds estimated reserves of around 4.4 billion tonnes of low grade lignite. Two tenders for the development of new power plant utilizing lignite from the field were canceled after insufficient bids were received while earlier this year Turkish officials said they were in discussion with two South Korean companies over possible development of new power plant utilizing lignite from the field. The Afsin Elbistan field has long been targeted for further development with Turkish energy minister Taner Yildiz announcing three months ago that Turkey is targeting developing a total of 17 GW of new power plant utilizing local lignite and hard coal in an effort to reduce dependence on imported natural gas which is currently used to generate around half of the country's power consumption. TAQA is 75% owned by the government of Abu Dhabi and operates 15.4 GW of power plant in the MENA region, Europe and North America.--David O'Byrne, newsdesk@platts.com --Edited by Martin O'Rourke, martin_orourke@platts.com