Between 12 and 15 September 2022, a Turkish delegation visited several German institutions and power plants to familiarise itself with the German electricity system. The tour was jointly organized by the vgbe and the German-Turkish Chamber of Commerce in Istanbul (AHK), under the auspices of the Turkish-German Energy Partnership. The delegation – led by Dr. Izzet Alagöz, General Manager of the Electricity Generation Corporation EÜAS – was especially interested in the flexible operation of thermal power plants. EÜAS is the largest public electricity supplier in Türkiye and operates coal-fired and gas power plants, as well as wind energy and hydropower plants.
The 4-day programme started with a workshop conducted by vgbe and KWS, with the support of RWE Technology. All the participants agreed that qualified and skilled personnel are key to transforming the energy system in general, and to operating thermal power plants in particular. Therefore, it was suggested that the Energy Partnership put special emphasis on this topic in the course of future activities.
The further site tour included visits to the following:
- a newly-built combined cycle (CCGT) power plant and battery storage site in Herne, operated by STEAG GmbH
- a lignite-fired power plant in Neurath, operated by RWE
- the Institute of Energy Economics at the University of Cologne (EWI)
- vgbe Congress 2022, in Antwerp
The participants learned about current challenges in energy supply in Europe – mainly arising from high gas prices. They gained an insight into the functioning of the German electricity market, strategies to develop a hydrogen value chain in co-operation with countries worldwide, as well as into proven power technologies that enable flexible plant operation.
About the Turkish-German Energy Partnership
The Turkish-German Energy Partnership has been supporting the exchange of knowledge and ideas between policymakers, businesses, science and civil society since 2012, bringing together people and ideas to support the transformation of the energy system. . The cooperation has intensified since 2018 and now encompasses five working groups (WG) in which the various thematic priorities are addressed:
- WG 1 Renewable Energies
- WG 2 Energy Efficiency
- WG 3 Energy Infrastructure and Sector Coupling
- WG 4 Regulation of Electricity and Gas Markets
- WG 5 Flexibilization of Existing Thermal Power Plants
The vgbe was assigned to coordinate the activities of WG 5 on the German side while EÜAS is the responsible institution on the Turkish side. The German Energy Agency dena has been assigned to coordinate the German activities of the energy partnership in cooperation with AHK, on behalf of Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK).
A pre-feasibility study, which is underway at Türkiye’s “18 Mart Çan Termik Santrali” power plant, represents another milestone in WG 5’s work programme. The objective of this study is to develop an implementation plan for the flexibilization of the plant. A core activity will be flexibility test runs at the plant, which are planned for the end of 2022.
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