İzdemir Enerji power station

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{{#badges:CoalSwarm|Navbar-Turkeycoal}}İzdemir Enerji power station is a 350-megawatt (MW) coal-fired power plant in İzmir province, Turkey.

Location

The undated satellite photo below shows the plant's site, which is near Çakmaklı village, Aliağa district, İzmir province. The plant is on a site adjacent to parent company İzmir Demir Çelik's steel mill.

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Background on Plant

İzdemir Enerji, a subsidiary of İzmir Demir Çelik (IDC), began building a single-unit, 350-MW, $350 million coal-fired power plant on the property of the company's Aliağa steel mill in 2011, in order to power the mill's operations.[1] The company applied for environmental permits in June 2008; the project was licensed in April 2009, and the construction contract was signed in April 2011.[2][3]

In its 2011 annual report, IDC stated that a $US222.9 million contract had been signed on April 2, 2011 with China Machninery Engineering Corporation (CMEC) for power station equipment. IDC also reported that a $US280 million loan agreement for the project had been entered into with Garanti Bank on April 8, 2011.[4]

Local villagers have complained that they were belatedly notified about the plant's regulatory approval process, and that their concerns have been ignored.[5] IDC has reported that "there have been lawsuits filed to annul and cancel the 'Production License' issued by Energy Market Regulatory Authority and EIA decision by Ministry of the Environment and Forestry for Izdemir Power Plant Project-2 to be established in Aliaga, Izmir."[4]

The plant went online in April 2014.[6]

Challenges to EIA

In February 2017 a judge rejected the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Report for the plant, due to the plant's proximity to cultural sites. While it is illegal to operate without environmental approval, the Izmir governor had up to 30 days to suspend the production license for the plant.[7]

In December 2018 a new positive EIA was submitted,[8] and was immediately challenged by the Aegean Environment and Culture Platform (EGEÇEP), who argued that portions of the new EIA had been cut-and-pasted from an EIA for a different project.[9] In March 2019 it was reported that the plant was continuing to operate without an EIA permit.[10] The president of the Izmir Bar Association also noted that the plant lacked a permit to operate a workplace from the Izmir Metropolitan Authority.[10]

Unit 1 EIA approved but unit 2 EIA rejected

The company then wrote a new EIA for unit 1 which was approved in March 2017. However the unit 2 EIA was cancelled and thus unit 2 was not built.[11]

Project Details

  • Sponsor: İzdemir Enerji
  • Parent company: İDÇ Steel[12]
  • Location: Çakmaklı village, Aliağa district, İzmir province, Turkey
  • Coordinates: 38.74173, 26.92917 (exact)
  • Status: Operating
  • Detailed status:
  • Gross capacity: 350 MW
  • Type: Supercritical[1]
  • In service: April 2014[6]
  • Coal type: Bituminous
  • Coal source: Imported[1]
  • Source of financing: Garanti[4]
  • WRI ID: WRI1018716
  • EBC ID: TR-6

Articles and resources

References

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External resources