Damlapinar Hydropower at Turkey Commences Commercial Operations

AES Corporation, an Arlington VA heard quartered power company with world wide operations, has announced the commencement of commercial operations of the 16 MW Damlapinar hydropower facility constructed over the river Goksu in Karaman, Turkey.

The power project built with an investment of over US$65M is owned and controlled by AES-IC Ictas Energy, a joint venture of AES Corporation which owns 51% equity in it. Commissioning of this project will allow AES to augment its hydro power generating capacity to 42 MW in Turkey. The Damlapinar hydropower production is the first run-of-river facility constructed by AES IC utilizing the full flow of the river. The construction includes a small dam with a facility for storing water for planning peak power production. The hydropower facility incorporates two 8.2 MW Francis Turbines manufactured by Harbin Power Engineering a Chinese manufacturing company for power generation. The other construction features of the dam are managed by AES IC Ictas. The power generated from the project will be traded in the wholesale market by day ahead spot sales or sold to qualified clients through short- term contracts.

Paul Hanrahan, AES’s President and CEO, said that his company will continue to focus on Turkey with its growth efforts to meet the growing electric power demand and the planned privatization of power generation facilities owned by the state. He added that the building of small hydropower generating facilities for commercial use by the company indicates its obligation towards the country in meeting its power needs.