Turkey Pursues Gas Imports as it Promotes Coal, Nuclear

摘要

With electricity demand growing by leaps and bounds, Turkey is turning to nuclear power and coal to ease its dependence on costly natural gas imports to feed its power stations (WGI Feb.29' 12). State Electricity Generation Co. (EUAS) last week inked a government-backed multibillion-dollar memorandum of understanding to form a project company with Taqa of the United Arab Emirates to upgrade and build new coal-fired plants, and to develop associated coal mines. Taqa said investment in the first phase would be around $3 billion, while Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz put overall spending at $12 billion. In tandem, the government hopes soon to award a tender for a second nuclear power plant at Sinop on the Black Sea; Yildiz said in December that Asian firms were in the lead after talks were held with suppliers from China, Japan, South Korea and Canada.