Turkey to produce ‘made in Turkey’ geothermal equipment

ANKARA/İZMİR - Anadolu Agency

The newly-inaugurated OrmaTurk company in the Aegean coastal city of İzmir will bring geothermal plant equipment know-how to Turkey’s geothermal industry, the U.S.-based parent company’s chief executive said on May 23.

Ormat Technologies Chief Executive Officer Isaac Angel spoke at the International Geothermal Conference (IGC Turkey 2017), of which state-run Anadolu Agency is the global communication partner, about the new Turkish company’s structure and its planned contribution to the country’s geothermal energy sector.  
   
“We are probably the biggest power plant provider in Turkey over the last 10 years with a 52 percent share of all operations in Turkey. We will also support another 11 power plants during 2017 and 2018,” Angel said.      
He added that in Turkey, Ormat Technologies Inc. does not operate power plants but provides technical support and builds power plants for Turkish developers.      

“Yesterday OrmaTurk started its operations as a Turkish company 100 percent owned by Ormat Technologies. The employees are Turkish, including the management,” Angel said, adding that the company’s investment in the country was made with confidence because of the geothermal potential in the Turkish market.      
The facility will not only supply customers’ products, but more importantly Turkey will gain know-how about all aspects of how to build turbines, which will henceforth be able to be deemed “Made in Turkey,” he said.      
Ormat Technologies’ presence in Turkey involves the construction of power plants for Turkish developers but it refrains from functioning as operators.    
 
The localization of turbine production through the “Made in Turkey” concept will help them as a company, partners and customers to secure subsidies from the Turkish government, Angel said.      

“We have decided not to invest to build our own facilities in Turkey,” he said, but added that if the Turkish market continues to grow as expected, the company plans to enlarge its facilities in the coming years.      

“We always look for opportunities in Turkey,” Angel added.      

Ormat Technologies is the only vertically-integrated company primarily engaged in the geothermal and recovered energy power business. It designs, develops, owns and operates geothermal and recovered energy-based power plants around the world.