Afşin-Elbistan C power station

Afşin-Elbistan C is a planned 1800-MW coal-fired power station which may be built in Turkey by the state-owned mining company Maden Holding. Estimated to cost over 17 billion lira, at planned capacity it would generate about 3% of the nation's electricity. According to the environmental impact assessment, the plant would burn 23 million tonnes of lignite annually, and emit over 61 million tonnes of CO
2 each year for 35 years. It would be the least carbon efficient coal-fired power station and the largest single emitter of greenhouse gas in the world.

Afşin-Elbistan C power station
Country
  • Turkey
Coordinates38°21′09″N 37°00′18″E
StatusProposed
Construction cost
  • 17,000 million ₺
Owner(s)
  • Maden Holding
Thermal power station
Primary fuel
Cooling source
    • Liquid water
Power generation
Nameplate capacity
  • 1,800 MW
Capacity factor
  • 72 %
Annual net output
  • 11 TW h

Planned development

Like some other power stations in Turkey the proposed three units of 600 MW for Afşin in Kahramanmaraş Province were originally planned to be owned and operated by the Electricity Generation Company. But in late 2020 it was announced that they would belong to another state-owned company Maden Holding, which holds a variety of mines.[1] Estimated to cost 17.3 billion lira, at planned capacity of 11 TWh per year (about 3%)[2] of the nation's electricity would be generated by burning 23 million tonnes of lignite annually.[3]

The site, on the border between Altınelma (in Turkish) and Tanır (in Turkish) neighbourhoods in Afşin district,[4] is near the two existing Afşin-Elbistan power stations. In 2019, compulsory purchase of the land was authorised by President Erdoğan,[5] and diversion of Hurman Creek would allow more access to Elbistan coalfield as well as supplying the plant's cooling water.[6]

As of 2020 Global Energy Monitor lists the plant's status as "pre-permit development",[7] and feasibility studies continue.[8] In 2020 Kahramanmaraş deputy Sefer Aycan, from the Nationalist Movement Party, called for a parliamentary investigation.[9]

Coal

The plant would be supplied by a nearby opencast lignite mine owned by Maden Holding.[10] According to a 2019 report to JORC standards there are 950 million tons of reserves, with the average energy value of coal of 1,145 Kcal/kg.[11] Seam depths are 50 - 175 m, moisture content 53%, ash content 20% and sulfur content 1.2%.[12]

Economics

The plant is planned to operate for 35 years and will be funded by China[13] or the Turkey Wealth Fund (TWF), the country's sovereign wealth fund, which plans to pay dividends to the treasury by 2025.[14] This is in accordance with the energy policy of Turkey, which prioritises local sources of energy to reduce coal and natural gas imports, partly in order to maintain energy security.[14] Despite low production costs,[15] the private sector was not interested, as the coal is low-quality.[14] The TWF claims the plant would have an economic life of 35 years,[16] create "serious employment",[8] and Vice President Fuat Oktay said in 2020 that it would reduce the current account deficit.[17] According to Carbon Tracker, new wind and solar power plants are cheaper than building new coal-power plants.[18]

Technology

The station is planned to run 6,948 hours per year to generate 11,380 GWh.[19] By using a supercritical boiler, the plant will be more efficient and emit less local air pollution[20] than all other large (over 400 MW) local lignite-fuelled power stations in Turkey, as they use subcritical boilers. According to Turkey Wealth Fund General Manager Zafer Sonmez, the plant will be environmentally friendly, using the latest emission control technologies.[8] But, according to campaign group "Right to Clean Air Platform", it would still result in thousands of early deaths over the lifetime of the plant.[21] Cooling water would be supplied from Hurman Creek via the forthcoming Karakuz Dam,[22] to be built by TOKİ, which will also run a small hydropower plant and supply water for irrigation.[23] According to Climate Action Network Europe the plant would increase the risk of drought in the area.[24] Construction materials would be transported via a forthcoming Afşin ring road.[25]

Greenhouse gas emissions

The Afşin-Elbistan C environmental impact assessment (EIA) estimated CO
2 emissions would be more than 60 million tonnes of CO
2 per year.[26] By comparison, total annual greenhouse gas emissions by Turkey are about 520 million tonnes;[27] thus more than a tenth of greenhouse gas emissions by Turkey would be from the planned power station.[note 1][note 2][34] Therefore, if built, at over 5 kg of CO2 per kWh generated it would be less carbon efficient than any coal-fired power station on the list of least carbon efficient power stations.[note 3] As of 2020, for comparison, the world's largest single emitter is Secunda CTL, which emits 56.5 million tonnes a year.[35] Space-based measurements of carbon dioxide means the public will know the level of emissions almost in real time.[36][37]

Opposition

Ali Öztunç, local MP and environment spokesperson for the main opposition Republican People's Party, has spoken out against the plant[38] and asked in a parliamentary question why it should be built on agricultural land.[39] Environmentalists claim the country already has too much capacity[40] and contend that the plant will damage local water resources.[41] Environmental and public health groups criticised the EIA for describing coal as clean energy[42] and, in February 2020, thousands of people filed petitions against its approval:[43] but it was approved by the Ministry of Environment and Urbanisation in March.[44] As of July 2020 a court case continues.[4]

Notes
  1. 62 megatonnes would be emitted annually[26] if run at the targeted capacity factor, whereas Turkey's current annual emissions are 521 megatonnes.[27] By simple arithmetic 62 megatonnes is more than 10% of 521+62 megatonnes.
  2. On average somewhat over a million tonnes of CO2 was emitted for every TWh of electricity generated in Turkey by coal-fired power stations in 2010.[28] This power station aims to generate just over 12.5 TWh (gross) per year.[29] The calculation in the EIA assumes an emission factor of 94.6 tCO2/TJ,[26] which is three times the average of 31 for Turkish lignite,[30] but it is unclear whether this is the only reason the CO2 emissions per kWh are predicted to be very high compared to the 2010 average. Since 2020, more stringent filtering of local air pollutants from the smokestack has been compulsory.[31] Moreover, although the average is about 2800,[32] the net calorific value of Turkish lignite varies between 1000 and 6000 kcal/kg.[33]
  3. 61,636,279.98 tCO2/year divided by 11,380 GWh/year equals 61,636.27998 Gg CO2 divided by 11,380 GWh equals 5.4 kg CO2/kWh

References
  1. "Maden Holding geliyor" [Maden Holding is coming]. Sabah (in Turkish). Kalyon Group. 2020-10-05. Retrieved 2020-10-17.
  2. "EÜAŞ, Afşin C Termik Santrali İçin Çalışmalara Başlıyor" [EÜAŞ starts works for Afşin C Thermal Power Plant]. Yeşil Afşin (in Turkish). 2020-03-05.
  3. "C Santrali'nin ÇED sürecinde kritik dönemeç" [Critical juncture in Plant C's EIA process]. Elbistanın Sesi (in Turkish). 2019-10-01. Retrieved 2019-10-06.
  4. "Afşin-Elbistan C Termik Santralinin iptali için yöre halkı mahkemeye verdi! Son söz yargıda..." [Local people sue for the cancellation of Afşin-Elbistan C Thermal Power Plant! Final word in court ...]. Elbistan Pusula (in Turkish). Retrieved 2020-10-05.
  5. "C Termik Santrali için acele kamulaştırma kararı çıktı" [Urgent expropriation decision issued for C Thermal Power Plant]. Elbistanın Sesi (in Turkish). 2019-12-25. Retrieved 2020-01-28.
  6. "Üç termik santral kapanabilir" [Three thermal power plants can shut down]. Sabah (in Turkish). Kalyon Group.
  7. "Afşin-Elbistan power complex". www.gem.wiki. Global Energy Monitor. Retrieved 2020-03-10.
  8. "Sönmez: "Afşin'e, çevreye duyarlı, teknolojik bir santral yapacağız"" [Sönmez: "We will build an environmentally sensitive high tech power plant in Afşin"]. Elbistanın Sesi (in Turkish). Retrieved 2020-08-19.
  9. "Afşin ve Elbistan İçin Bir Karar Verilmeli! Tarım mı? Maden mi?" [Decision must be made for Afşin and Elbistan! Agriculture or mining?]. Yeşil Afşin (in Turkish). Retrieved 2020-10-05.
  10. "Türkiye Varlık Fonu, C Santrali için 6 firma ile görüşüyor" [Turkey Wealth Fund in talks with six companies about plant C]. Elbistanın Sesi (in Turkish). 2020-07-25. Retrieved 2020-07-27.
  11. "Afşi̇n-Elbi̇stan Li̇nyi̇t Sahası" [Afşi̇n-Elbi̇stan Li̇gnite field]. EÜAŞ. Retrieved 2020-10-20.
  12. Mena (2020), p. 19.
  13. "Turkey's Wealth Fund Targets Chemicals and Aviation for a Boost - BNN Bloomberg". BNN. Bloomberg L.P. 2020-07-22. Retrieved 2020-10-20.
  14. Öztürk, Sinan (2020-01-21). "Turkey Wealth Fund eyes becoming strategic investment arm of the country". Daily Sabah. Kalyon Group. Retrieved 2020-04-02.
  15. Kasap, Yaşar; Şensöğüt, Cem; Ören, Özer (2020-03-01). "Efficiency change of coal used for energy production in Turkey". Resources Policy. Elsevier. 65: 101577. doi:10.1016/j.resourpol.2019.101577. ISSN 0301-4207.
  16. "Fuat Oktay: "Kahramanmaraş'taki Santral Mega Projemiz"". KahramanTV (in Turkish). Retrieved 2021-01-09.
  17. "Fuat Oktay: "Kahramanmaraş'taki Santral Mega Projemiz"" (in Turkish). Retrieved 2020-12-21.
  18. "Wind vs Coal Power in Turkey/Solar PV vs Coal in Turkey" (PDF). Carbon Tracker. 2020. pp. 9, 10. Retrieved 2020-10-20.
  19. "Bakanlık, bölgeye 3.santralin kurulmasına 'olumlu' baktı" [Ministry 'positive' on building the 3rd plant in the region]. Elbistanın Sesi (in Turkish). 2020-03-28.
  20. "Turkey looks to raise share of renewables to two-thirds by 2023". Anadolu Agency. 2019-06-17.
  21. "Covid-19 Quarantine has Cleaned the Air of Turkey, What Should be Done Next?". Bianet. IPS Communication Foundation. 2020-04-22.
  22. "550 milyon TL'ye mal olacak, 2023'te bitecek" [Cost 550 million lira, to be finished 2023]. Elbistanın Sesi (in Turkish). Retrieved 2020-10-05.
  23. "Karakuz Barajı'nın yapımını üstlenen TOKİ, ilk adımı attı" [TOKI takes first step in construction of Karakuz Dam]. Elbistanın Sesi (in Turkish). Retrieved 2020-10-16.
  24. "Termik santralleri kuraklık vuruyor". www.sozcu.com.tr (in Turkish). Retrieved 2021-01-09.
  25. "Bir türlü bitmeyen Afşin Çevreyolu, Siyasilerin gündeminde!" [Never-ending Afşin Ring Road on politicians' agenda]. Afşin Haber (in Turkish). Afşi̇n Merkez Yayın Gurubu. 2020-08-04. Retrieved 2020-10-05.
  26. Çınar (2020), p. 319.
  27. "Turkey's greenhouse gas emissions fall for second year in a row". Daily Sabah. Anadolu Agency. 2020-03-31. Turkey's total greenhouse gas emissions in 2018 ..... equivalent to 520.9 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2).
  28. Atilgan & Azapagic (2016), p. 177.
  29. Çınar (2020), p. xix.
  30. Turkstat report (2020), p. 50.
  31. "Turkey shuts power plants for not installing filters". Anadolu Agency. 2020-01-02.
  32. Yerli̇ ve mi̇lli̇ enerji̇ poli̇ti̇kalari ekseni̇nde kömür (PDF) (Report). Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research. January 2019.
  33. Turkstat report (2020), pp. 59,60.
  34. "C Santrali, Türkiye'nin sera gazı emisyonunu yüzde 10 arttıracak" [C plant would increase Turkey's greenhouse gas emissions by 10%]. Elbistanın Sesi (in Turkish). 12 November 2020.
  35. "The World's Biggest Emitter of Greenhouse Gases". Bloomberg.com. 2020-03-17. Retrieved 2020-12-29.
  36. "The potential of CO2 satellite monitoring for climate governance: A review". Journal of Environmental Management. 277: 111423. 2021-01-01. doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2020.111423. ISSN 0301-4797.
  37. Couture, Heather D. (11 August 2020). "How to Track the Emissions of Every Power Plant on the Planet from Space". IEEE Spectrum: Technology, Engineering, and Science News.
  38. "AKP'li şirketten bir ÇED raporu daha" [Another EIA report from an AKP company]. Yeni Çağ Gazetesi (in Turkish). 2020-01-14. Retrieved 2020-01-28.
  39. "Öztunç, Enerji Bakanı Dönmez'e A Termik Santralini Sordu" [Öztunç asked Energy Minister Dönmez about thermal power plant A]. Yeşil Afşin (in Turkish). Retrieved 2020-08-19.
  40. "Afşin Elbistan'a biçilen değer cehennem!" [Afşin Elbistan sent to hell!]. Yeni Yaşam Gazetesi (in Turkish). 2020-02-28. Retrieved 2020-03-03.
  41. "Suların şehri susuz şehir oluyor | alevi gazetesi" (in Turkish). 5 February 2020. Retrieved 2020-03-03.
  42. "In Turkey, a Battle Over Coal Draws a Line in the Soot". Sierra Club. 2020-08-05.
  43. "Bölge halkından C Termik Santrali'ne karşı binlerce dilekçe" [Thousands of local people petition against C Thermal Power Plant]. Elbistanın Sesi (in Turkish). 6 March 2020. Retrieved 2020-03-08.
  44. "Afşin Elbistan C Termik Santali yapımı için bakanlıktan onay çıktı" [Ministry approves construction of Afşin Elbistan C Thermal Power plant]. Elbistan Olay (in Turkish). Retrieved 2020-04-02.

Bibliography

UNFCCC reports
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