Yunus Emre power station
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Yunus Emre power station (Yunus Emre Termik Santrali) is a mothballed power station of at least 145-megawatts (MW) in Koyunağılı, Mihalıççık, Eskişehir, Türkiye with multiple units, some of which are not currently operating.
Location
Table 1: Project-level location details
| Plant name | Location | Coordinates (WGS 84) |
|---|---|---|
| Yunus Emre power station | Koyunağılı, Mihalıççık, Eskişehir, Türkiye | 39.984309, 31.635639 (exact) |
The map below shows the exact location of the power station.
Unit-level coordinates (WGS 84):
- Unit 1, Unit 2: 39.984309, 31.635639
Project Details
Table 2: Unit-level details
| Unit name | Status | Fuel(s) | Capacity (MW) | Technology | Start year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unit 1 | mothballed | coal: lignite | 145 | subcritical | 2021 |
| Unit 2 | mothballed | coal: lignite | 145 | subcritical | 2021 (planned) |
Table 3: Unit-level ownership and operator details
| Unit name | Owner | Parent |
|---|---|---|
| Unit 1 | Adularya Enerji AŞ [100%] | Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (Turkey) |
| Unit 2 | Adularya Enerji AŞ [100%] | Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (Turkey) |
Project-level coal details
- Coal source(s): Adularya Eskişehir coal mine
Background
In July 2008, Adularya Elektrik (a subsidiary of Naksan Holding) received initial regulatory approval to build a two-unit, 290-MW, $600-million coal-fired power plant in Eskişehir province. The mine-to-mouth plant will burn lignite coal from an adjacent mine, which will also be operated by Adularya Elektrik. The mine received regulatory approval in 2008.[1][2]
In March 2010, Adularya signed a construction contract with Czech company Vítkovice Power Engineering.[3] Adularya signed a credit agreement with the Czech Export Bank in August 2010.[4][5]
Site preparation work broke ground in March 2011, and plant construction began in November of that year.[3][6] In May 2013, Vítkovice subcontracted ABB to provide integrated control & instrumentation systems for the plant.[7]
The power plant was originally planned for 2016, but Adularya alleged that the components and machines provided by Czech company Vítkovice Machinery Group were not suitable for the low quality coal that is used at the power plant.[8] Construction was further postponed by political problems in Turkey.[9] The Turkish government accused Naksan Holding of supporting the 2016 coup attempt and TMSF (Savings Deposit Insurance Fund of Turkey, a government body) took over the company and its properties.[10]
As of June 2017, archival photos on Google Earth show the plant to be substantially complete, and coal piles are stocked. However, as of June 2018 there are no reports that the plant has begun operating. As of December 2018 the plant was reportedly performing test operations.[11]
In January 2018, the Czech Export Bank asked the state insurance company EGAP to pay a bill of billions of dollars for the unfinished construction of the power plant,[12] and a trade union reported that miners were occupying the mine in protest at unpaid wages.[13]
TMSF hopes to re-privatize the plant in 2018.[14] In January 2019, it announced that the plant would be put up for auction on January 30, 2019 at a price of $1.4 billion Turkish lira.[15] In May 2019, TMSF announced that another auction would take place in July 2019 for 1.1 billion Turkish Lira (TL).[16] In August 2019, it was reported that the July 2019 auction had been unsuccessful and no buyer for the plant had been found.[17]
There are contradictory reports on the plant's status. In December 2019, the website for Turkey's Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EMRA) stated that Unit 1 was operating and that Unit 2 was under construction.[18][19] As of May 2020, the website for Turkey's Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EMRA) stated that Unit 2 was operating.[20][21] According to CAN Europe, construction was finished as of June 2020; however, the plant was not burning coal and was not in operation.[22] A report published by the Health and Environment Alliance in January 2021 also stated that the plant was complete, but non-operational.[23]
A March 2022 article discussed the plant and described that it was not working. There are reports that the plant was either built poorly or was not paid for in full. It is also stated that the problem may have been the boilers. The plant may have been decommissioned.[24] According to CAN Europe, Unit 1 of the plant was still in operation as of July 2022.[25]
In May 2023, power station operators stated that they planned to bring both units back online, despite the long period of idling. The power station would expand from employing 850 people to employing 1,250 people over a period of four months. Unit 1 would be fully operational in June 2023, and the Unit 2 would be commissioned soon after.[26]
As of November 2024, both units of Yunus Emre power station had been offline for several years due to chronic boiler issues. There was no apparent news regarding the fate of the power station. The status of the power station was presumed to be "mothballed".
Financing
The power station was reportedly financed through US$533,290,649 in debt from Czech Export Bank.[4][27]
Opposition
In August 2017, it was reported that 1,200 mining workers that work at the mines adjacent to the Yunus Emre power plant had not received salary for the last three months. “They could not bring bread to their homes.” The workers wanted to remain anonymous in giving comments and mentioned how they “work 300 meters below the ground” with no salary. Workers also sent letters to SDIF on August 19, 2017, with around 400 signatures that asked for their salaries to “spend a happy holiday” with their families. The company in charge, Naksan Holding, and the Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF), responded that “payment will be made in the coming days.”[28]
In 2017, Önder Algedik published a “Coal and Climate Change 2017 report,” which discussed how coal plants, like the Yunus Emre power plant, may cause “more irreparable damages” to Turkey in the future.[29]
By January 2018, 1,200 workers at the Yunus Emre power plant went on strike because they had not received their salaries for the last 3.5 months. The workers said they would “continue the strike until they got their money.”[30] Multiple Turkish cities and towns had made applications for information about coal plant projects and their environmental impact, including the Yunus Emre plant.[31]
In February 2019, the Air Pollution & Climate Secretariat (AirClim) published a report by Fredrik Lundberg, an energy policy specialist in Sweden. He urged for the stop of production of coal power plants, including the Yunus Emre power plant.[32]
In September 2023, 190 workers at the adjacent coal mine went on an underground hunger strike for several days, alleging that hundreds of workers that had been let go had not received outstanding pay owed to them. Multiple people were hospitalized after the strikers did not drink water for nearly 48 hours.[33]
Articles and Resources
References
- ↑ Power Plant, Adularya Elektrik website, accessed May 2014.
- ↑ Yunus Emre Termik Santrali, Kara Atlas, accessed May 2014.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 2x 145MW „Yunus Emre“ Fluid Power Plant, Vitkovice Power document, accessed May 2014.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Yunus Emre Termik Santrali için imzalar atıldı, Milliyet, Aug. 3, 2010.
- ↑ Agreement signed for power station in Eskişehir, Hürriyet Daily News, Aug. 3, 2010.
- ↑ Mihalıççık'taki dev santral işçisini ve ihtiyaçlarını Bepyazarı'ndan alıyor, 2 Eylül, June 22, 2012.
- ↑ Integrated ICE solution for thermal power plant in Turkey, ABB press release, May 27, 2013.
- ↑ "Lack of transparency hindering Czech export agency," Bankwatch, Feb 15, 2017
- ↑ "HN: Turkish coup attempt could lead to CZK 12 billion loss for CR," Radio Czech, 27-07-2016
- ↑ "Local head of Turkey’s ruling AKP appointed as trustee for 7 seized companies in Gaziantep," Stockholm Center for Freedom, March 16, 2018
- ↑ Türkiye linyit üretiminde dünyada 4’üncü Avrupa’da 2’nci, Evrensel, Dec. 12, 2018
- ↑ "Dostavba turecké elektrárny Adularya se vleče od roku 2010," tzbinfo, Jan 9, 2018
- ↑ "Adularya direnişçilerinden diğer ocaklardaki maden işçilerine: 'Biz bir zincirin parçaları gibiyiz, birlik olalım'," Umutsen, Jan 22, 2018
- ↑ "TMSF'DEN, FETÖ şirketi mağdurlarına iyi haber" memurlar.net, 9 May 2018
- ↑ Yunus Emre Thermal Power Plant is on sale, Sabah, Jan. 8, 2019
- ↑ Yunus Emre Termik Santrali, 1.1 milyar liraya satışa çıkıyor, Ahaber, May 30, 2019
- ↑ Çeklerin Finanse Ettiği Yunus Emre Termik Santrali Yine Satılamadı, Turkish Ministry of Customs and Trade, Aug. 22, 2019
- ↑ EÜ/1698-3/1234, EMRA, December 2019
- ↑ List of active coal fired power stations in Turkey, Wikipedia, accessed January 2020
- ↑ EÜ/1698-3/1234, EMRA, May 2020
- ↑ List of active coal fired power stations in Turkey, Wikipedia, accessed May 2020
- ↑ Communication with CAN Europe, June 2020
- ↑ Funda Gacal, Anne Stauffer (January 2021) Chronic coal pollution Turkey: The health burden caused by coal power in Turkey and how to stop the coal addiction . Health and Environment Alliance, 23. Report.
- ↑ Česká exportní banka v tichosti prodala úvěr na zfušovanou elektrárnu v Turecku. Se ztrátou 9 miliard, Ekonomicky Denik, March 2, 2022
- ↑ Communication with CAN Europe, July 2022
- ↑ Yunus Emre Termik Santrali Yeniden Devrede!, Yeralti Haber, May 23, 2023
- ↑ "Czech Export Bank finances Turkish IPP | News | IJGlobal". ijglobal.com. Retrieved 2020-12-07.
- ↑ “Mining workers who haven’t been paid for months”, Fetih Media, Translated by Google, August 20, 2017.
- ↑ “Coal and Climate Change 2017 Report”, Önder Algedik, Translated by Google December 9, 2017.
- ↑ “Workers who could not get their salaries started to strike in Eskisehir”, Birgün, January 17, 2018.
- ↑ “Response to 56 Applications to Obtain Information from MoEU”, Ecology Collective, Translated by Google, April 9, 2018.
- ↑ “Phasing out coal in Europe by 2025”, AirClim, Feburary 2019.
- ↑ “Eskişehir'de, kömür madeni işçileri, yer altında açlık grevine başladı”, Demirören Haber Ajansı, September 4, 2023.
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.
