A $260 Million Cleanup

As part of its Powering Efficiency Center of Excellence (COE) capabilities, GE’s Power Services business will provide its Fleet360* total plant solutions to modernize two Turkish lignite-fired coal power plants for Yeniköy Kemerköy Elektrik Üretim ve Ticaret A.Ş.

GE’s modernization and full plant refurbishment will include replacing five Zamech high-pressure, intermediate-pressure and low-pressure steam turbines and five Dolmel generators with air-cooled generators. GE will also upgrade five Rafako boilers, modernize five flue-gas desulfurization and electrostatic precipitator systems as well as the electrical and mechanical balance of plant and will install a distributed control system. The total contract is valued at approximately $260 million. 

GE said the upgrade of the two facilities, which serve 521,000 homes in Turkey and meet approximately 5% of Turkey’s energy demand, will help increase the plants’ capacity by 197.5 MW while also significantly decreasing plant emissions. The upgrades will also improve plant efficiency from 34% to 40%.

Installations will start in July 2019 and are expected to be completed by October 2020, with the equipment being shipped from GE’s facilities in Poland, Switzerland, Germany and the Czech Republic.

“In 2016, gross electricity consumption in Turkey increased by 4.44% while, at the same time, its electricity generation increased by 4.2% when compared to the previous year,” said Serhat ÇEÇEN, chairman, IC İÇTAŞ Enerji Investment Holding and Yeniköy Kemerköy Elektrik Üretim ve Ticaret A.Ş. “As our country looks for ways to increase power capacity, reliability and efficiency in line with national energy politics—while also decreasing emissions—we are trusting the future economic growth and national energy policies of our country, and our strategy has centered around modernizing our existing power generation assets.

”GE has a strong local presence and is a one-stop-shop service provider for all of our modernization needs. With these upgrades, our plants will be better positioned to help meet the future energy needs of Turkey’s residents and businesses.”

GE said its upgrade solutions will extend the lifetime of the power equipment by up to 20 years and significantly lower emissions at the two power plants to meet the country’s emission limits, including:

– A decrease in NOx emissions to a level less than 200 mg/Nm3 (600 mg/Nm3 today).

– A reduction in particulate matter emissions to a level less than 40 mg/Nm3 (50 mg/Nm3 today).

– A curtailment in SOx emissions to a level less than 320 mg/Nm3 (1000 mg/Nm3 today).

 “We are excited to work with Yeniköy Kemerköy Elektrik Üretim ve Ticaret A.Ş and are pleased to be considered to be the one-stop service provider for all of its current and future energy and environmental needs,” said Michael Rechsteiner, vice president, GE’s Power Services in Europe. “Our Fleet360 total plant solutions, including our capabilities through our Powering Efficiency COE, represent our expanded offerings for all power generation equipment regardless of the original equipment manufacturer. This project marks our first total coal-fired power plant modernization project in Turkey.”

In addition, as reported in GE’s “Building the Bridge to Europe’s Energy Future” white paper—which was announced at Power-Gen Europe in Cologne, Germany—today, most electricity is produced by 30- to 40-year-old thermal fleets that will continue to be needed for many years to come. This existing infrastructure is the backbone of European power generation, and investments in efficiency, flexibility and cleaner power generation—like the ones in Yenikoy—will help secure profitable ongoing operations.

GE has supported Yeniköy Kemerköy Elektrik Üretim ve Ticaret A.Ş. since its privatization in 2014. Yeniköy Kemerköy Elektrik Üretim ve Ticaret A.Ş. has a total of 1050 MW installed design power providing for approximately 5% of Turkey’s energy demand.

Yeniköy Thermal Power Plant has 2 units with a total of 420 MW design output and Kemerköy Thermal Power Plant has 3 units with a total of 630 MW design output.