Çerkezköy power station

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Çerkezköy power station is a cancelled power station in Pınar, Çerkezköy, Tekirdağ, Türkiye.

Location

Table 1: Project-level location details

Plant name Location Coordinates (WGS 84)
Çerkezköy power station Pınar, Çerkezköy, Tekirdağ, Türkiye 41.283333, 28.0 (approximate)

The map below shows the approximate location of the power station.

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Project Details

Table 2: Unit-level details

Unit name Status Fuel(s) Capacity (MW) Technology
Unit 1 cancelled coal: lignite 330 unknown
Unit 2 cancelled coal: lignite 330 unknown
Unit 3 cancelled coal: lignite 330 unknown

Table 3: Unit-level ownership and operator details

Unit name Owner Parent
Unit 1 Electricity Generation Company (Türkiye) AŞ [100%] Electricity Generation Company (Türkiye) AŞ [100.0%]
Unit 2 Electricity Generation Company (Türkiye) AŞ [100%] Electricity Generation Company (Türkiye) AŞ [100.0%]
Unit 3 Electricity Generation Company (Türkiye) AŞ [100%] Electricity Generation Company (Türkiye) AŞ [100.0%]

Background

The Trakya region, where Tekirdag is situated, has large swaths of land designated as agricultural or forest land. Turkish law does not allow construction projects on land defined as such. Thus, the region has been subject to multiple spatial plan revisions that aimed to change land designation in order to allow for coal plant construction projects such as Eren-1, Vize and Çerkezköy. Lignite reserves were previously explored in the Çerkezköy basin[1]and the oldest geological reconnaissance for the Trakya region dates back to 1954.[2] The use of lignite coal has been a priority in Turkey's energy strategy since 2009.[3]

In October 2016, Elektrik Üretim (EÜAŞ), the state energy agency, announced that the Cerkezkoy plant would be built between the towns of Cerkezkoy in Tekirdag and Silivri in Istanbul.[4] The project came with a spatial plan revision which re-designated land between the two towns as "energy generation area". The revised plan was also included the Vize power station.[5] In February 2017, an emergency expropriation was issued to expedite the process.[6] Local community, Çerkezköy municipality, the provincial committee of the chambers of Engineers and Architects and environmental groups took the expropriation and the spatial plan change to court.[7] In September 2017, the State Council decided against the emergency expropriation.[8]

On October 17 2017, the Ministry of Environment changed the spatial plan of Çerkezköy for a second time. According to the new spatial plan, the plant would be further away from Istanbul, in an area between Pınarca and Kapaklı districts of Çerkezköy. This new area was also re-designated as "energy generation area".[9] According to the EIA report published in November 2017, the plant was planned to consist of 3 units of 330 MW capacity.[10] Environmental permission procedures proceeded despite opposition.[8] The public permitting meeting, a part of EIA process, was planned to be held on February 1, 2018. However, protests against the proposed plant grew as a reaction to the local community's exclusion from the meeting. The meeting was cancelled as a result.[11]

On public permitting meeting day, the protest grew as some locals were not allowed to enter the meeting room, Feb 2018, ©Çerkezköy Haber.

In December 2018, AKP Tekirdağ parliamentarians announced on social media that the plant had been cancelled due to "technical" reasons.[12] On 4 February 2019, the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization cancelled "EIA positive decision" of the plant.[13] In July 2020, the 6th Chamber of the Council of State suspended the spatial plan revisions that had allocated land to the plant as "energy generation area". The council cited the plant's negative impact to the irrigated agriculture and local water reserves.[14]

Environmental Impact

The plant is proposed to be built on agricultural and forest lands, and environmental groups claim that it would cause 500 hectares of deforestation.[13] Local residents resisted the plant citing environmental and health concerns.[15] A Greenpeace report in 2018 estimated that Çerkezköy coal power plant would cause 141 premature deaths a year as a result of exposure to PM2.5 and NO2.[16]

Costs

The Chamber of Electrical Engineers stated that, due to a 15-year government purchase guarantee, the total cost of electricity from the plant could amount to 5.4 million US dollars (20.3 million lira). The Chamber noted that the plant would therefore be less profitable than a renewable energy alternative.[17]

Articles and Resources

References

  1. Toolkit: Coal Power Generation and Health in Three Regions of Turkey; Çanakkale, İzmir and Tekirdağ, Health and Environment Alliance, January 2018.
  2. ERGENE (TRAKYA) HAVZASININ JEOLOJİSİ VE KÖMÜR POTANSİYELİ, Şengüler İ., (MTA), 2016.
  3. Enerji Güvenlik ve Strateji Belgesi, 21 Mayıs 2009.
  4. Çerkezköy Termik Santrali'nin yeri değiştirildi, T24, 31 December 2017.
  5. Plan Açıklama Raporu, Republic of Turkey Ministry of Environment and Urbanization, Oct. 2016.
  6. "Silivri ve Çerkezköy'e termik santral yapılacak," CNN Turkey, Feb 22, 2017.
  7. "Locals stage protests against the planned thermal plant in Istanbul’s Silivri," Hurriyet Daily News, June 5, 2017.
  8. 8.0 8.1 Çevre Bakanlığı İptal Edildiği Açıklanan Çerkezköy Termik Santrali’ne “Devam” Dedi, Bianet, Jan 30, 2019.
  9. Plan Proje Müdürlüğü Eüaş Çerkezköy Termik Santraline İlişkin Duyuru, Cerkezkoy Municipality, Oct. 27, 2017.
  10. Çerkezköy EIA, Ministry of Environment and Urbanism online EIA database, 28 Nov 2017.
  11. Halk şerh düştü, Çerkezköy Haber, Feb 1 2018.
  12. Çerkezköy’de termik santral yapımı iptal edildi, Yeniçağ, 15 Dec. 2018.
  13. 13.0 13.1 Çerkezköy ve Kapaklı’da planlanan termik santral iptal edildi, TEMA, 8 Feb. 2019.
  14. Çerkezköy'e termik santrali planına Danıştay freni Evrensel, Jul 23 2020.
  15. "Trakyalılar kömür santralini istemiyor," Sözcü, 17 May 2018.
  16. Trakya’da Termik Santral Tehlikesi, Greenpeace Turkey, Feb. 2018
  17. "Alım garantili SPE'nin faturası ağır" Gerçek Gündem, Feb 6, 2018.

Additional data

To access additional data, including an interactive map of coal-fired power stations, a downloadable dataset, and summary data, please visit the Global Coal Plant Tracker on the Global Energy Monitor website.