Privatisation of Turkey's power industry

Timeline

 * January 16, 2011: The head of the Privatization Administration, Ahmet Aksu, announced that the agency planned to start the privatization of thermal power plants owned by EUAS with a total capacity of 16,000 megawatts (MW) as soon as possible. Aksu said that the 1,120 MW gas-fired Hamitabat power station would be the first to be sold. Other power stations which had been mentioned in earlier reports were the 1,034MW lignite-fired Soma A-B power station, the 320MW lignite-fired Can power station and the 600MW lignited-fired Seyitomer Power Plant.


 * March 2011: The Privatization Administration sought bids for the purchase of the publicly owned 1,120 MW gas-fired Hamitabat power station. The initial deadline was June 27, 2011.


 * March 29: Energy Ministry undersecretary Metin Kilci announced that details of the tender process for the privatization of the 600MW lignite-fired Seyitomer Power Plant would be announced in the near future.


 * June 27, 2011: This was extended to September 23, 2011.


 * Late 2011: The tender attracted only one bid and as a result the tender was canceled.


 * September 2012: Four companies pre-qualified for submitting bids: International Company for Water & Power Projects, Karkey Karadeniz Elektrik, Enerjisa Enerji, and Limak Dogalgaz Elektrik.


 * October 15, 2012: Revised deadline for bids for the deadline for final bids in the sale of the Hamitabat power station.


 * January 2013: Privatization Authority announces that it has sold the operating rights of its lignite-fired Seyitomer Power Plant for $2.25 billion to the Turkish company, Celikler Insaat.


 * January 14, 2013: The revised deadline for the submission of tender bids for the Hamitabat power station. No explanation for the delay was provided by the government but one Turkish energy analyst stated that it was probably due to the bidding companies requesting more time. Financial Times journalist David O'Byrne noted that "failure to sell Hamitabat at the second attempt would not bode well for plans to sell off the rest of Turkey’s state generating portfolio, which the government plans to complete over the next year."

Related SourceWatch articles

 * Global use and production of coal
 * International Information on Coal
 * Turkey and coal

External resources

 * Deloitte, Turkish Energy Industry Report, Investment Support and Promotion Agency, Republic of Turkey Prime Ministry, August 2010.
 * Cengiz Güneş, "Contributing lignite coal fields to the economy", Deloitte, April 2012.

External articles

 * David O'Byrne, "Turkish power: coal or gas?", Beyond Brics (Financial Times blog), July 16, 2012.
 * David O'Byrne, "Turkey: hard power sell", Beyond Brics (Financial Times blog), November 22, 2012.
 * David O’Byrne, "Turkey privatisation plan boosted by sale", Financial Times, December 16, 2012.
 * David O'Byrne, "Turkey: power privatisation progress", Beyond Brics (Financial Times blog), December 21, 2012.