The Ministry of Environment of Turkey has decided to close five coal-fired power plants that have failed to complete the required environmental investments before the 31 December 2019 deadline. 13 coal-fired power plants had been given until the end of 2019 to install filters on their chimneys.
Five power plants totalling 3 GW will thus be shut down, including the 1.3 GW Afsin-Elbistan A power plant in Kahramanmaraş, the 600 MW Seyitomer power plant in Kütahya, the 457 MW Kangal power plant in Sivas, the 365 MW Tuncbilek A-B power plant in Kütahya and the 315 MW Catalagzi power plant in Zonguldak. In addition, the 990 MW Soma power plant will be partially shut down. Finally, four power plants have received temporary permits and the remaining three power plants have received full operating permits.
As of December 2019, Turkey’s installed capacity was 92.3 GW with 20.6 GW of coal- and lignite-fired power plants (22%).