Energo-Pro Group proves that we are capable of delivering large power engineering projects worldwide
Energo-Pro Group, currently the biggest Czech company focusing on water power solutions, is building two new dams with hydro power plants in Turkey. They are the largest hydroelectric projects delivered by Czechs in the past 25 years.
The project involving a dam and hydro power plant Karakurt with installed capacity of 99.5 MW is built on the river Arras near Kars in the north-eastern Turkey. Right now, a gravity dam is under construction to reach the total height of 142 metres. It will be finished by the end of the next year with an expected total annual production of 345 GWh. “It is a great success for the Czech industry, proving that we can still design and produce large 100megawatt power stations,” says the executive director of Energo-Pro Pavel Váňa about the project.
There is an even larger project under way – Alpaslan 2 – with planned installed capacity of 280 MW. The situation is slightly different here – it is not a green-field site project as Energo-Pro bought the dam with a half-built power station in 2017. The project is located on the river Murat in the Mus province. Both the power plant and reservoir are currently under construction with their completion planned for 2020 and expected total annual production of 860 GWh. Just for comparison – the largest Czech hydro power plant Lipno generates 150 GWh annually. Couple of weeks ago, the project reached an important milestone – the river had been diverted from its original bed to allow for the construction of the dam, which is being built right now.
For the Energo-Pro Group these are the largest projects in its 25-years-long history. The group currently operates hydro power plants in 4 countries, with total installed capacity of 862 MW.
Basic facts about Energo-Pro:
- Founded by Jaromír Tesař in Svitavy in 1994
- Active in the Czech Republic, Georgia, Bulgaria, Turkey, and Slovenia
- Employs more than 9,000 people
- Operates:
• 2 hydro power plants in the Czech Republic
• 14 hydro power plants in Bulgaria
• 15 hydro power and 1 gas power plant in Georgia
• 5 hydro power plants in Turkey
- In Georgia the group distributes power to 85 % of the country’s territory, in Bulgaria it covers approximately one third of the country
- Has over 2 million end consumers of electricity
- Produces over 3 TWh of green energy per year
- The group also includes Litostroj – a Slovenian manufacturer of turbines, and a Czech company ČKD Blansko Engineering
Why Turkey?
The hydro power business of Energo-Pro stems from three pillars – Georgia, Bulgaria, and Turkey. These countries have many rivers with gradients that are ideal for generating power from water.
“The Turkish government had established very accommodative conditions for hydroelectric developments – including large ones. This is why we decided to dive into two new big projects,” says executive director Pavel Váňa. “The authorities are very helpful and assist with the building permit proceedings, rerouting of roads and overcoming of other obstacles. And after the completion of the power station you get a preferential feed-in tariff on the electricity that your project generates. This tariff is fixed in dollars, so there is no problem with the depreciation of the Turkish Lira,” adds Pavel Váňa. The depreciation of the local currency is a great problem the Turkish economy is facing right now, but Energo-Pro claims that the immediate impact on their business is close to zero. “We have agreed on the so-called dollar tariff also with the five hydroelectric power plants that we are operating there right now,” explains Pavel Váňa.
For the Karakurt power plant the actual final tariff will be even more attractive. “If you have a turbine and generator produced in Turkey, you get further financial benefits. This was the reason why we decided to build a production plant in Ankara. The hall is already complete and we will be launching production in about two months time. This plant will produce turbines and generators for our Karakurt project,” adds Váňa. It will be a fully-fledged industrial factory where Energo-Pro will produce turbine runners as well as other machines and appliances. At the same time it will be the first plant producing also generators for hydro power plants.
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