Zorlu Energy’s Kizildere 3 geothermal power plant praised on efficiency and impact
Kizildere geothermal power plant by Zorlu Enerji, Turkey (source: Zorlu Enerji)
Alexander Richter
30 Nov 2018
The 165 MW Kizildere 3 geothermal power plant is part of one of the largest geothermal plant complexes worldwide and praised for its efficiency by its developer and operator, Zorlu Energy. In the proximity of the plant greenhouse operations are being set up creating additional economic benefits, locally and for the company.
In an inteview with Anadolu Agency in Turkey, Ali Kindap, General Manager responsible for investments, operations and maintenance at Zorlu Energy highlights the great efficiency and size of the company’s Kizildere 3 geothermal power plant in Denizli provice, Turkey.
With a total installed power generation capacity of 165 MW, the plant started operation at full capacity this year. The Kizildere geothermal plant complexes features the Kizildere 1 plant with a capacity of 15 MW, Kizildere 2 with 80 MW, and now Kizildere 3 with two units (100 MW and 65 MW). In the interview, Kindap puts the overall investment volume for all three plants at US$700 million.
Zorlu Energy pushes on the sustainability of the resources, reinjecting fluids back into the reservoir. The reservoir temperature is about 246 centigrades. The company reports high efficiency of 18% because it uses waste steam in a separate part of the plant contributing largely to productivity. World-wide the highest percentage is 15%, so Kindap.
Uniquely in Turkey, the plant will also soon supply heat to greenhouse operations being set up on a 600-acrea area next to the plant.
Kindap describes that “As our domestic source, geothermal energy could be used both for electricity generation and heating and cooling. Turkey has 3,000 MW of electricity generation potential from geothermal in western Turkey while this amount is 30,000 MW thermal energy for heating-cooling,”
With the geothermal potential, Turkey could replace up to 9 billion cubic meters of imported natural gas, which could mean saving worth of $2.2 billion in imports (based on current prices).
Source: Daily Sabah
