Turkey will connect to the European electrical grid this month using GE's smart grid technology. The connection will allow for expanded energy and economic opportunities. The Turkish Electricity Transmission Company (TEIAS) will now be able to buy and sell power in the European electricity market and the connection will strengthen the reliability and availability of energy throughout all of Europe.
"The territory serviced by ENTSO-E (European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity) is one of the highest demand regions for energy in the world," according to a report issued in 2009 by the Turkish Ministry of Energy. "The energy policies of ENTSO-E's countries are driving a single market model through the synchronization of more networks, thus increasing the reliability of the supply of electricity to maximize the efficiency of generation, transmission, distribution and consumption of energy while minimizing environmental impact."
Connecting Turkey with the rest of the European grid is an important step to help meet these initiatives. The cross-border system may also enable a new, cleaner energy mix for Europe. There is a demand for renewable energy in European countries, and Turkey has massive renewable energy sources, which makes this new relationship mutually beneficial to both TEIAS and ENTSO-E.
"Smart grid solutions are opening energy opportunities in new ways every day," said Bob Gilligan, vice president--digital energy for GE Energy Services. "Our communications and control technologies are enabling international trade and power-sharing breakthroughs that seemed nearly impossible just a few years ago. When Turkey joins the European energy community, it will be a vital step forward for power systems on both sides of the connection."
GE's smart grid communications and wide area protection solutions will monitor grid status at the points of connection and automate the control of generation and load within Turkey. The system will optimize power sharing and power quality while improving reliability and preventing cascading outages.
GE completed the engineering for the system in a matter of months, using proven products and system integration expertise. Currently in the final phases of testing, GE's wide-area protection solutions should enable the first inter-connection of Turkey's and European grids in September.
Going green
Turkey aims to join the world’s economic elite by 2050 and with this, electricity demand is on the rise. Electricity consumption has been growing at 6.5% since 2002, while forecasts suggest it will continue to increase at 6% per annum until 2020.
Unfortunately, to date Turkey’s electricity supply has been struggling to keep up with this growth. Nevertheless, as the World Bank observes, Turkey is “one of the leaders among developing countries creating clean power and energy efficiency projects.”
Hydro power already accounts for 17% of the energy mix, with renewable energy producing close to 1% of total installed capacity. This is set to increase considerably in coming years as Turkey strives to meet its target of 20% renewable by 2020.
In April, for example, Gama Energy – a joint venture between Gama Holding A.S. and GE Energy Financial Services – announced its first wind energy projects in Turkey. The Sares and Karadag wind farms in the country’s western region feature GE’s larger, 2.5-megawatt wind turbines and will be able to power about 59,000 average Turkish homes.
Turkey is also working with the World Bank’s $5.2 billion Clean Technology Fund to develop renewable sources such as biomass, hydro, wind and geothermal and better integrate them into the grid.
As the World Bank summed up the possibilities: “Imagine a future where energy from the sun and the wind powers megacities like Istanbul, Cairo and Mexico City — where efficient and clean mass transit systems move people where they want to go quickly. Turkey, Egypt and Mexico want to go beyond imagining.”
It has been estimated that Turkey has massive renewable energy sources: 88 GW. With only 600 MW currently in place, there is certainly significant room for growth in the renewables market, and with the new smart connection to Europe, it looks likely that Turkish renewable power could soon be contributing to Europe’s energy mix in the not to distant future.
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