Turkey will spend $5 billion on smart power grids by 2015 to boost network efficiency, allowing North American companies to expand, the U.S. government said.
The U.S. sees “substantial opportunities for closer cooperation between the Turkish government and energy companies and U.S. companies that provide smart-grid technologies,” according to a statement from the consulate in Istanbul, which will hold a conference in the city tomorrow on grid investments.
Turkey, forecasting annual power-demand growth of 6.3 percent in the next two decades, has already lured investors including General Electric Co. as its energy industry expands. The country is bucking the trend of most emerging European nations, where retail electricity use trails growth in incomes.
The jump in demand increases the need for smart grids, which allow power generators and users to monitor consumption and reduce costs by saving energy in transmission. Turkey is seeking to boost efficiency of supply after demand grew 5.1 percent last year, while generation expanded only 4.2 percent, according to data from Turkish Electricity Transmission Co.
“If the utilities want to take advantage of this, the accurate metering and billing that smart grids can provide will be vital,” said Chris Rogers, a utilities analyst for Bloomberg Industries in London. “As Turkey becomes richer, more air- conditioning, solar power and electric vehicles will be bought, which also need smart grids to function properly.”
Smart meters installed across Europe will increase by an average 18 percent a year through 2020, peaking in 2018, according to projections from Bloomberg Industries. GE, Germany’s Siemens AG and Denmark’s Vestas Wind Systems A/S are among providers of power-generation equipment in Turkey, where the government is selling off operating rights for distribution grids to boost investment and reduce debt.
via Turkey’s $5 Billion Smart-Grid Plan Seen Boosting Ties With U.S. – Bloomberg.
General Electric and Gama Holding have completed its second wind farm project in Turkey. General Electric is the biggest maker of wind turbines in the U.S. The company recently surpassed 2 GW of installed capacity worldwide.
The 10 MW project Karadag farm in Izmir in the Aegeon region went online this month with four 2.5 MW turbines. Like many other countries, Turkey is trying to increase the share of sustainable renewable power in its energy mix and has set a goal of 30 percent for 2023. The developing nation’s electricity demand grows at a rate of six percent per year, according to official estimates.
“Our partnership with GAMA reinforces our commitment to investing in and building our presence in the global renewable energy market,” said Andrew Marsden, managing director, Europe at GE Energy Financial Services.
Turkey is a strategic growth area for GE and the company has been investing in that country for more than 60 years. With six facilities and over 600 employees, GE today powers nearly 25 percent of Turkey’s electricity needs.
Earlier in March, GE and Gama inaugurated the 22.5 MW Sares wind farm and together the operations will generate enough electricity to power 59,000 average Turkish homes and prevent 80,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions a year.
Wind power is seen by many as one of the best bets to achieve a sustainable energy future. It is the most popular source of renewable electricity. At the end of the 20122, wind-powered generators achieve the record figure nameplate capacity of 238 GW, which was 41 GW more than the previous year. The World Wind Energy Association says that wind power has the capacity to generate 430 TWh per year, or 2.5 percent of the global electricity usage.
Image credit: GE
via GE Completes Sustainable Wind Energy Farm in Turkey | Corporate Social Responsibility.
General Electric Co. (GE) (GE) will invest $900 million in aviation, energy, health, transportation and infrastructure in Turkey over the next three years after the government offered incentives to investors.
The investment package will include production of wind energy equipment, Economy Minister Zafer Caglayan said today at a press conference in Istanbul.
“We have not announced specifics of the investment which will be defined over time and until then we have no further details to add,” the company said in an emailed statement.
The plan has “a focus on infrastructure and innovation,” GE Vice Chairman John Rice told reporters. The company will provide specifics “in the next couple of months” and is in talks with universities on plans for research and development, he said.
GE also set up a strategic partnership with state-run locomotive manufacturer Turkiye Lokomotif & Motor Sanayi AS, known as Tulomsas, in 2008 and expect its exports to be $1.5 billion over next 10 years, the company said in a statement handed to reporters.
Caglayan said GE will boost its cooperation in railway transportation business.
The Fairfield, Connecticut-based company, which sold an 18.6 percent stake in Turkiye Garanti Bankasi AS (GARAN) to Spain’s Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) SA for $3.78 billion in 2010, has a 46 percent stake in Turkish Aerospace Industries, the Ankara-based maker of aircraft parts known as Tusas, and owns half of Gama Enerji AS, a Turkish power producer, among its six units with 600 employees in Turkey. The U.S. company also makes health-care measurement and imaging devices, lighting equipment and power turbines.
Energy Demand
Turkey’s electricity demand is increasing about 6 percent annually, compared with a government economic growth forecast of 4 percent, Caglayan said. “It’s only logical for an energy giant like GE to invest in Turkey’s energy,” he said.
GE, founded in the late 19th century by Thomas Edison, is one of the oldest major companies in the U.S. It’s the world’s biggest maker of diesel locomotives and airplane engines.
Local unit General Elektrik Ticaret & Servis AS may start manufacturing wind turbines and parts, with half the output likely to be sold within Turkey as the government targets a 20- fold increase in wind capacity by 2020, Mete Maltepe, head of GE’s local energy unit, said in an interview in 2010.
GE will benefit from a wide-ranging package of incentives offered to investors to boost local production as a way to narrow the country’s current account deficit, Caglayan said.
Turkey is looking to spur investment in industries that rely on imports to produce their goods to help narrow a current- account gap of about nine percent of its $772 billion gross domestic product, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said April 5. The government is focusing its efforts on industries including defense, automotive, rail and sea transport, pharmaceuticals, education, tourism and mining, Caglayan’s economy ministry said.
via General Electric to Invest $900 Million in Turkey in 3 Years – Businessweek.
Turkey expects an investment of €40 billion in renewable energy sector by 2020 – located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia and the Middle East, Turkey has ventured on a major renewable energy and energy efficiency programme, Zaman reported.
Turkey’s aim is to increase its clean-energy share to 30% of its power supply by 2023, the 100th anniversary of the Turkish Republic. Seeing the economic growth of Turkey, the US Embassy there said that a growth of 8.9% in 2010 and 11% in the first quarter of 2011, has caused a sharp increase in energy demand. Several US firms will see business-development opportunities in solar, wind, geothermal, hydro and all elements of energy efficiency – around 6-8% annual growth in energy demand by 2020 is expected, with an addition of 50,000MW predicted for the grid. Public and private-sector investment will fund many of these projects, under the supervision of US companies.
The high energy costs in Turkey, combined with the need to lower production costs to remain competitive internationally have made Turkish firms hunger for US equipment and technology in both renewable energy and energy efficiency. The US Commercial Service at the US Embassy in Turkey receives five to seven inquiries per month for potential US suppliers of renewable energy and energy efficiency equipment, services and technology.
In addition, US exporters can offer trade finance to their Turkish importers and US EximBank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development offer attractive terms to fund sales of American equipment. Recently, the US giant AES acquired a near 50% share in AES-Entek Electric Company, a joint venture with Koc Group, which focus on existing and new generation opportunities, including renewables. GE also recently announced a 530MW project, with the Turkish MetCap Energy Investments in Karaman, Turkey. The project will feature a 22MW GE wind farm, a 50MW eSolar “power tower” solar thermal system and GE’s new FlexEfficiency turbine technology.
Last year, US firm Clipper Wind opened a representative office in Istanbul. The US Department of Energy, in partnership with GE Ecoimagination, Shaw Group and Johnson Controls will develop a pilot project in energy efficiency using US technology. The US firms have significant business opportunities in Turkey in sectors such as wind turbines, geothermal exploration, drilling and geophysical engineering services, geothermal power plant equipment, biomass power generation, waste-to-energy systems and solutions, hydroelectric power plant equipment supply, solar power generation systems microturbines, cogeneration systems, coal gasification, coal-bed methane systems and solutions, energy efficiency systems and solutions and fuel cells and heat pumps.
via US companies see business opportunities in Turkey – New Europe.
NEW YORK & EZINE, Turkey, Jun 21, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Turkey’s newest wind farm — the first owned by a joint venture of GAMA Holding A.S. and GE unit GE Energy Financial Services — is now selling clean electricity and helping the country meet its renewable energy generation targets, the companies announced today at an American Council on Renewable Energy conference in New York.
Editor's Note: Shown here are the GE 2.5-megawatt turbines at the Sares wind farm in Turkey. The wind farm — owned by a joint venture between GAMA Holding A.S. and GE Energy Financial Services — has begun selling its power to the electric grid.
The 22.5-megawatt Sares wind farm, located in one of Turkey’s most extreme wind regions near the city of Canakkale in the Ezine Region near the northwest coast, uses nine GE 2.5-megawatt turbines, some of the most advanced in GE’s fleet in efficiency, reliability and grid connection capabilities. Turkey’s Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources approved commercial operation of the Sares wind farm, the first in Turkey owned by Ankara-based GAMA Enerji A.S., the joint venture of GEEFS and GAMA Holding.
“As a global investor, we are delighted to expand our renewable energy investing to Turkey, particularly using GE’s state-of-the-art turbines, to help the country meet its energy and environmental needs with a sustainable, efficient energy source like wind,” Kevin Walsh, a managing director and leader of Power and Renewable Energy at GE Energy Financial Services, said at the American Council on Renewable Energy’s Renewable Energy Finance Forum-Wall Street.
Added Stephan Ritter, general manager of GE Renewables Europe: “The Turkish market’s potential for the wind business is very big. To realize that potential, we are committed to working with wind developers such as GAMA Enerji. As our most advanced installed wind turbine in efficiency, reliability and grid connection capabilities, the 2.5-megawatt series is an excellent match for a region with such extreme wind conditions.”
The GE-GAMA joint venture is also developing the 10-megawatt Karadag wind farm, 350 kilometers south of Sares. Project construction, also using GE’s 2.5-megawatt turbines, is expected to start in the third quarter of this year, with completion expected in the second quarter of next year. While GAMA Enerji has invested in the Sares and Karadag projects, GE Energy will maintain them under a services agreement, and GAMA Enerji will operate them.
GAMA Enerji Managing Director Semih Ergur said: “These wind farms not only support a cleaner environment but create jobs, support our company’s growth and help Turkey achieve its renewable energy goals.”
GAMA Enerji estimates that the two wind farms will generate enough electricity to power 59,000 average Turkish homes and avoid 80,000 tons a year in greenhouse gas emissions. Turkey’s Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources aims to generate 20 percent of the country’s electricity from renewable resources by 2020.
GE’s 2.5-megawatt wind turbines are used at two of the world’s largest wind projects: CEZ Romania’s 600-megawatt Fantanele wind farm, Europe’s largest onshore project; and the 845-megawatt Shepherds Flats wind project, the world’s largest wind farm, under construction in the US state of Oregon that is co-owned by GE Energy Financial Services, Caithness Energy, Google and subsidiaries of ITOCHU Corporation and Sumitomo Corporation. This machine is designed to yield the highest annual energy production in its class and builds on the success of GE’s 1.5-megawatt wind turbine, the world’s most widely deployed wind turbine, with more than 16,000 now installed.
About GAMA
GAMA was established in Turkey in 1959 and has become a leading international general contractor with operations in 20 countries extending from Ireland in the west to Russia’s Sakhalin Island in the east. GAMA Group Companies presently have contracts in 12 countries valued about USD $6.5 billion and a workforce of 14,000 employees. Besides serving as an EPC supplier of power plants and a general contractor of industrial facilities, GAMA’s core business includes energy investments, managed by its joint venture company GAMA Enerji A.S. For further information, please visit www.GAMA.com.tr
About GAMA Enerji A.S.
The experience of GAMA in the energy and water sectors resulted in the establishment of GAMA Enerji. GAMA has taken part in the construction and development of 14,500 megawatts of power generation capacity worldwide (which corresponds to approximately 30% of the installed generation capacity in Turkey). GAMA owns equity in projects with a total installed capacity of 1607 MW. GAMA was an active participant in Turkey’s first major Build Operate Transfer projects as contractor and investor. GAMA Enerji has invested in water treatment and conveyance projects with a capacity of 140 MCM/year and intends to continue these investments with another substantial water project in Jordan. It has invested in power plants, including in Ireland. GAMA Enerji develops renewable hydroelectric and wind energy projects as well as larger thermal power plants. For more information, visit www.GAMA.com.tr/energy/
About GE
GE is an advanced technology, services and finance company taking on the world’s toughest challenges. Dedicated to innovation in energy, health, transportation and infrastructure, GE operates in more than 100 countries and employs about 300,000 people worldwide. GE has been active in Turkey for more than 60 years, growing through strong partnerships and technology investments in infrastructure segments such as Aviation, Energy and Transportation. For more information, visit the company’s website at www.ge.com .
GE serves the energy sector by developing and deploying technology that helps make efficient use of natural resources. With more than 90,000 global employees and 2010 revenues of $38 billion, GE Energy www.ge.com/energy is one of the world’s leading suppliers of power generation and energy delivery technologies. The businesses that comprise GE Energy – GE Power & Water, GE Energy Services and GE Oil & Gas – work together to provide integrated product and service solutions in all areas of the energy industry including coal, oil, natural gas and nuclear energy; renewable resources such as water, wind, solar and biogas; and other alternative fuels.
GE Energy Financial Services’ experts invest globally across the capital spectrum in essential, long-lived, and capital-intensive energy assets that meet the world’s energy needs. In addition to capital, GE Energy Financial Services offers the best of GE’s technical know-how, technology innovation, financial strength, and rigorous risk management. Based in Stamford, Connecticut, USA, the GE business unit helps its customers and GE grow through new investments, strong partnerships, and optimization of its US $21 billion in assets. For more information, visit .
Editor’s Note: Shown here are the GE 2.5-megawatt turbines at the Sares wind farm in Turkey. The wind farm — owned by a joint venture between GAMA Holding A.S. and GE Energy Financial Services — has begun selling its power to the electric grid.
GE’s concentrating solar power and other green technologies
by Stuart Hampton
General Electric (GE) may have a powerhouse of an old industrial name, but it is also open to new green energy opportunities.
Case in point, in June the company teamed up with California-based eSolar and Turkey-based investor MetCap Energy Investments, in a deal that allows GE to deploy Integrated Solar Combined Cycle (ISCC) technology to its customers around the world.
eSolar is a developer of next-generation, tower-based concentrating solar thermal technology. In contrast to flat panel photovoltaic solar arrays, which generate low amounts of electric power directly from the sun, the ISCC technology uses the sun’s heat as part of an integrated electricity generating process that enhances the output of a steam-driven turbine in a combined-cycle power plant.
An ISCC project combines a combined-cycle system gas turbine, steam turbine, generators, and a heat recovery steam generator, with an array of mirrors that concentrates solar energy on a tower to produce high-temperature steam. The steam generated in the solar field is then forced into the water-steam cycle of the combined-cycle plant, increasing the power of the steam turbine and creating extra MWs of power without using any additional natural gas. GE plans to integrate eSolar’s technology into its recently introduced FlexEfficiency 50 Combine Cycle technology aimed at improving the fuel efficiency of combined cycle power plants. GE plans to build its first ISCC plant in Turkey.
Earlier in the year the company positioned itself to become a major player in the “traditional” solar energy market, announcing it will build a 400 MW annual production capacity thin-film solar manufacturing plant, the largest in the US.
In another green initiative in 2011, GE acquired frame technology from Wind Tower Systems, which it will use to build taller wind turbine towers that can accommodate longer blades, as a way to boost its already robust wind energy manufacturing operations.
The company is also supporting the commercialization of electric cars, making a commitment to purchase 25,000 of them for fleet use by 2015.
GE may be an old dog in the energy market, but it is quite skilled at learning new tricks.
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Photo by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, used under a Creative Commons license.
