The Çetin Hydropower Plant Project, Botan River, Southeast Antolia Region.7/20
Statkraft has started the construction of its third hydropower plant in Turkey, the Cetin hydropower plant. With a total installed capacity of 517 MW, Cetin will be the largest Statkraft hydropower plant outside Norway, delivering 1.4 TWh of clean, renewable energy annually.
The Çetin Hydropower Plant Project is located on the Botan River, a tributary of the Tigris River in the Southeast Antolia Region. The project area is within the provinces of Siirt and Bitlis. The project is under development by Çetin Enerji A.S, a subsidiary of Statkraft Enerji A.Ş., which is owned by Statkraft AS. The Generation Licence to build and operate for 49 years was issued by the Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EPDK / EMRA) in June 2009.
Two power stations
Çetin HPP will comprise of two power plants named Main Çetin and Lower Çetin. To collect water and give sufficient head for power production, a 145 meter high Main Dam shall be built across the main river just downstream Büyükçay, which is the biggest tributary of Botan. This dam will create a reservoir with a capacity to store approximately 10% of the total annual water flow. The reservoir will form an artificial lake and 10 km2 land located in the reservoir area will be inundated. Although some of the summerhouses, pathways, bridges and farmlands will be submerged, none of the villages in the valley will be flooded.
Lower Çetin, located 6 km further downstream will utilize the remaining head of approximately 35 meters down to the Alkumru reservoir.
The total production capacity equals almost 1% of the existing electricity production in Turkey, and approximately 3% of the total hydropower capacity.
During the construction period the estimated number of workers to be employed may be up to 1500 people.
In line with national law and international standards, an Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) report has been conducted to describe the environmental and social profile of the project area and to identify possible risk factors and appropriate mitigation measures.
Growth in Turkey
Cetin is the largest of three projects in the Turkish portfolio purchased by Statkraft in June 2009. Statkraft’s first power plant in Turkey, Çakit at 20 MW, started commercial power production in June 2010.
The 102 MW Kargi hydropower plant is under construction, expected to start operations in the spring of 2015. When Çetin is completed, Statkraft will have a total installed capacity of about 640 MW and an annual average production capacity of about 2000 GWh.