RWE & TURCAS Denizli Power Plant

The RWE & TURCAS Denizli Power Plant powers 3.5 million homes and accounts for approximately 2% of Turkey's total electricity production. Image courtesy of RWE.

The RWE & TURCAS Denizli Power Plant became operational in August 2013. Image courtesy of RWE.

Due to limited space, the generation building was constructed on a 300mx300m area. Image courtesy of RWE.

The plant is expected to operate for 25 years at an efficiency level of approximately 56%. Image courtesy of RWE.

The plant uses air-cooled condensers instead of the traditional water-cooled condensers due to the scarcity of water in the region. Image courtesy of RWE.

The RWE & TURCAS Denizli Power Plant is a 775MW natural gas-fired, combined-cycle power plant built in the Kaklik Municipality of the Honaz district in the Denizli province of Turkey.

The €600m project broke ground in April 2011 and became operational in August 2013. It aims to meet the increasing energy demand in the Denizli province.

RWE holds a 70% stake in the project and operates the plant. The remaining 30% is held by Turcas Guney Elektrik Uretim (Turcas).

The plant has a guaranteed generating capacity of 775MW to power 3.5 million households in Turkey. The power generated by the plant accounts for 2% of the total electricity production of Turkey.

The project was originally planned by E.ON & Turcas, a joint venture company between E.ON and Turkas. E.ON sold its stake in the project to RWE in March 2009. The company was subsequently renamed as RWE & Turcas.

The project permits and permissions, which were issued in the name of E.ON, hold valid for RWE & Turcas as well. The plant operates for 25 years under the general licence issued in April 2009 by Enerji Piyasasi Duzenleme Kurumu (EPDK), the energy market regulatory authority of Turkey. The licence is valid for 49 years.

The transmission lines and the natural gas lines do not form part of the power project. The state-owned Turkish Electricity Transmission Company TEIAS laid the transmission lines, with prefinancing support from RWE & Turcas. The amount is reimbursed by TEIAS during the operational period of the plant.

Details about the 800MW natural gas-fired combined-cycle power plant

The plant was constructed on a 26.7ha site. Due to limited space, the power plant was constructed on a 300m² area.

The other facilities that were built at the site include a high-voltage switchyard with transformers and distribution systems, a laboratory for testing lubricants and wastewater quality, storage tanks for de-mineralised water, a natural gas receiving station and the central control room.

The plant will run at full-capacity throughout the year. The gas is sourced from the state-owned Botas national gas pipeline running between Isparta and Nazilli. A new 255m-long spur gas pipeline was laid to connect the power plant with the national gas pipeline.

The natural gas-receiving station built at the plant site receives the gas from the pipeline. The receiving station is operated by Botas. The gas pressure is reduced from the 40bar-70bar in the Botas main pipeline to 30bar at the receiving station for operational use.

Development of RWE & TURCAS’ Denizli power plant

RWE is responsible for the design, construction and operation of the plant. Metka, a Greek power plant builder, is building the plant on a turnkey basis.

The corresponding engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract was awarded in October 2009. All the major components, such as the gas turbines, steam turbine and the air-cooled condensers were manufactured and supplied by Siemens under a €110m subcontract from Metka.

The design of the power plant was based on multishaft technology and operates at approximately 56% efficiency level. It consists of two SGT5- 4000F gas turbines, two heat recovery steam generators (HRSG) and one SST5-5000 steam turbine.

The HRSGs has vertical gas passage due to space limitations. The steam from both the HRSGs serves the main steam turbine. A supplementary firing system was installed to generate additional heat.

Three SGen5-1000A air-cooled condensers (ACC) are used at the power plant for cooling purposes. The air is cooled at an average cooling capacity of 450MW. The cool air flows at an average rate of 22,000m3 a second.

The Siemens SPPA-T3000 power plant automation system was installed for instrumentation and controlling purposes.

As a water-saving measure, a condensate polishing plant was installed to separate the dissolved solids from the main condensate so that the condensate can be reused.

Turkish grid network

The power plant was connected to the national grid through two 380kV, 13km-long, parallel transmission lines between the Denizli and Afyon substations. A third 18km-long and 380kV transmission line connects the power plant and the new substation at Denizli.