Local firm set to generate power under strait

ÇANAKKALE – Anadolu Agency

A tanker passes through Çanakkale strait in northwestern Turkey. A Turkish firm has completed studies to produce electricty via underwater tribunes. DHA Photo

A Turkish company says it has completed research and development studies for power generation under the Çanakkale Strait and will start tests in February.

Biga, a family firm established by a father and his two sons, is on the home stretch of studies that have been conducted for generating electricity under the strait in northwestern Turkey connecting the Aegean Sea to the Sea of Marmara, Abdullah Erkan, the father, has told reporters on Dec. 28.

Erkan said they had been measuring the stream with a platform they planted offshores of Kepez district and successfully produced electricity with prototype tribunes there.

The 30 kilowatt tribune generated by Biga is the first sea tribune of Turkey, he stressed.

The businessman said the area they rented for 30 years was the most convenient spot for starting up a tribune plant within the limits established by the Montreux Straits Convention.

The project also supported by Turkey’s science watchdog, the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK), was ready for tests, Erkan said, adding the first week of February was targeted for starting production.