Power grid links to Europe
Erdinç Çelikkan ANKARA / Hürriyet
The Mediterranean Ring Project will enable Turkey to get access to the European electricity market, says Kemal Yıldır.
Turkey has completed establishing a synchronous parallel link to the European electricity grid, state-run Turkish Electricity Transmission Company (TEİAŞ) General Manager Kemal Yıldır has said.The electricity network interconnectivity “Mediterranean Ring Project” will enable Turkey to get access to the European electricity market. In the next phase of the project, the electricity network will include countries from Iraq to Tunisia, forming a circular electricity line across the Mediterranean and will bring an end to electricity cuts.
Turkey has been working for 20 years to link up with the European Electricity System. Linking the Turkish grid to Europe will enhance the quality and security of electricity.
“Our electricity transmission system has been found successful [by the European authorities],” Yıldır said, adding that Europe’s westernmost generator in Portugal the easternmost generator at the Atatürk Dam are joined by this system.
Studies to integrate Iraq into this system are continuing and will be included in investment schedule after the studies are finalized next year.
“We will establish synchronous parallel links with Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Egypt, Libya and Tunisia,” he said, noting that the European Electricity System will transmit electricity to Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia via underwater cables that will pass through Gibraltar.
‘Day/night tariff’
Meanwhile Turkey’s state-owned power company Elektrik Üretim (EÜAŞ) Vice General Manager Mehmet Biçer said a new “day/night tariff” may attract some electricity consumption from daytime to nights. There is a great difference in electricity demand between day and night, he added. Consumers will use electricity at nighttime as much as possible if prices are lower than daytime, according to Biçer.
