French EDF keen on hydro, renewable projects in Turkey

ISTANBUL – Anadolu Agency

French energy giant EDF Group is “very interested” in the Turkish market and getting involved in hydro energy projects, as well as further developing its activities in renewables, said Simone Rossi, the group’s senior executive vice president in charge of the international division. 

“Turkey has an important energy agenda highlighting the security and affordability of supply,” Rossi told Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency on the sidelines of the World Energy Congress in Istanbul.        

“The possibility of rising demand, the size of the population, the growth of the economy and the desire of the country to become more independent in energy supplies keeps us interested in Turkey,” Rossi said.  
     
Based in Paris and largely owned by the French state, EDF has operations in Europe, South America, North America, Asia, the Middle East and Africa.        

“There is definitely more room for nuclear, renewable and hydro energy projects in Turkey. This will allow the country to become more independent and in control of its energy supply,” Rossi said.    
  
EDF Energies Nouvelles, the group’s renewable energy arm, holds a 45 percent stake in Turkey’s Polat Enerji, one of the principal developers of Turkey’s wind energy market. Polat Enerji has an installed gross capacity of 630 megawatts (MW) and 510 MW of net capacity in wind power, according to its website.     

EDF would like to invest more in renewables in Turkey as well as advance its existing operations, according to Rossi.  

The company has been looking into a number of hydro energy projects in the last few years and will invest when it finds the right opportunity, he added.        


Polat partnership ‘symbolizes EDF’s way of doing business’        

The company remains “very happy” with its partnership with Polat as it “symbolizes” EDF’s way of doing business outside of France, Rossi said.        

“The partnership is a fusion of local knowledge and our global technology and it produces very good results,” he added.      
 
EDF is also supporting Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries at the under-construction Sinop nuclear power plant in northern Turkey “in the global framework of their partnership with them,” Rossi emphasized.    
    
“As a technology provider, Mitsubishi seeks the strength of a nuclear operator to support the introduction of this project in Turkey. EDF is an experienced nuclear operator that can help them in this aspect,” he stated.        
A consortium comprising Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Itochu Corp and France’s GDF Suez are building the Sinop nuclear power plant in northern Turkey. The 4,800 MW plant is planned to be operational by 2023.        

Rossi vowed that EDF would continue investing in Turkey as long as the country’s financial framework remained stable, despite the failed coup attempt of July 15 and the recent downgrade to junk level of the country’s sovereign rating by Moody’s.