Statkraft suspends Turkey hydropower project over security worries

OSLO – Reuters

Statkraft, Europe’s largest producer of hydropower, is suspending the development of a hydropower project in Turkey due to security concerns, the utility said on Feb. 4.

The proposed 517-megawatt (MW) Cetin power plant on Botan River, a tributary of the Tigris River in southeastern Turkey, was to be Statkraft’s largest hydropower plant outside Norway.

The outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) has intensified its attacks in Turkey’s southeast since last summer, as clashes and curfew-backed military operations continue in several tows in the region. 

“We had to suspend the project as the end of the ceasefire between the PKK and the Turkish authorities resulted in armed incidents in the region close to our site,” Statkraft’s chief executive, Christian Rynning-Toennesen, told Reuters.

 “We took the full write down on the assets, in case the plant is never built,” he added.

Statkraft said it took a charge of 2.1 billion crowns ($245.5 million) due to the suspension of the Çetin project.

The state-owned utility reported a full-year net loss of 2.4 billion crowns for 2015 compared with a net profit of 3.9 billion crowns the previous year, partly due to the write down.