Czech company Energo Pro to build hydro plant in Turkey

Czech power distributor Energo Pro is set to build a new hydro power plant with a dam in the Erzurum province in north eastern Turkey. The overall cost of the project is expected to reach 240 million US dollars, which is nearly 6 billion crowns. The agreement was signed on Friday at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the company stated in a press release.

Illustrative photo: European Commission

The Prague-based group, owned by Jaromír Tesař, currently runs several dozen hydro plants, most of them in Eastern Europe. In Turkey, it operates five hydro power plants with an installed output of 95 MW in Turkey and plans to grow on the Turkish market by further acquisitions of power plants and by greenfield investments.

In June, the company announced its decision to launch a site producing water turbines and generators in Turkish capital Ankara. According the company’s executive director, Pavel Váňa, the facility should be launched in about 16 months.

The facility will be constructed by Energo-Pro’s daughter companies, Czech supplier of hydroelectric technologies ČKD Blansko and Litostroj Power, a Slovenian manufacturer of water turbines.

The output of the new hydro plant in Erzurum province will be 99.5 megawatts and an expected annual production will be around 340 gigawatt-hours. The plant should be completed and launched into operation in 2019.

The project, which will be co-financed by Turkish bank Akbank, will also receive substantial incentives from the Turkish government such as guaranteed sale price of electricity for the next ten years.

In April, Turkish President Erdogan announced plans to invest up 110 billion dollars into new energy sources by 2023 to satisfy Turkey’s growing energy demand and lower the country’s dependence on Russia.