Official breaking of the ground for three power plants in Turkey

The breaking of the ground ceremonies for the Bandirma gas power plant on the south coast of Lake Marmara in north-west Turkey and the two hydropower plants Kavasak Bendi in the Adana region and Hacininoglu in the Kahramanmara region were carried out simultaneously.

Turkish market very attractive
Mr. Christian Kern, the responsible Member of the Managing Board of VERBUND emphasizes: "Turkey offers very attractive framework conditions for long-term investors. Only twelve months elapsed from the time the site was purchased up to the breaking of the ground ceremony with all of the necessary approvals. This could be something like a new European record."

The new power plant in Bandirma represents one of the first notable major investments in the private electricity sector in Turkey. The 920 MW gas power plant, which should be connected to the grid in the fall of 2010, will be erected by a consortium comprising Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. and the Austrian A-TEC Power Plant Systems AG.

Commencement of construction for two hydropower plants
The construction work for the first two of a potential nine hydropower plants will be commenced simultaneously. The 180 MW Kavsak Bendi power plant, which lies to the south of the Taurus Mountains on the Seyhan River in the Adana region in the south of Turkey, has a significant reservoir volume. Commissioning is scheduled for the end of 2011.

The second of the two new hydropower plants, the 142 MW run-of-river power plant Hacininoglu, is located in the Kahramanmara region, also in the south of Turkey. Commissioning is expected to take place in 2010. The two projects are among the first large-scale investments in privately constructed hydropower plants in Turkey (by way of comparison: the Danube power plant Freudenau has a maximum capacity of 172 MW).

All aspects of the three power plants were planned and approved in accordance with West European power plant standards.

VERBUND and Sabanci want to achieve market leadership in Turkey
Enerjisa already has an installed capacity of approx. 450 MW (gas and hydropower plants). VERBUND and Sabanci aim to become the market leaders in the Turkish electricity market and plan to construct generation capacities of at least 5,000 MW by 2015. This summer they were also awarded the contract for the distribution grid in Ankara, which supplies six million residents in and around the Turkish capital with electricity.