Turkey's Keban Hydroelectricity Power Plant (HPP) may produce the highest amount of electricity for the last four years, said Soner Aslan, operating manager of Keban Hydroelectric Power Plant, on Sunday.
Aslan told the Anadolu Agency that a higher rainfall and snow is anticipated in Turkey for 2015, compared to the last year, when the water supply of the dam was the lowest of the last 40 years.
Keban HPP produced; 5.6 billion kwh in 2012, 5.9 billion kwh in 2013 and 3.2 billion kwh in 2014.
In 2014, average water discharge was realized as 250 cubic meters of water per second rather than the average water discharge which is 630 cubic meters per second and it decreased the fill rate of the dam to 8 billion cubic meters from 20 billion cubic meters, Aslan said.
Keban HPP is in eastern Turkey, specifically between the Elazig and Malatya provinces, and it is Turkey's second biggest dam after Ataturk Hydroelectric dam and it is also fourth biggest dam lake among all natural and artificial lakes in Turkey.
'Turkish General Directorate of State Hydraulic is informed that the Euphrates river valley, the host field of the Keban dam, will supply 19,2 billion cubic meter water per year and we calculate the potential electricity production of the Keban as 6,5 billion kwh,' Aslan said.
According to Aslan, snow melting around the rivers of Aslan, Karasu, Murat and brooks of Munzur and Peri will increase water discharge and electricity production correspondingly.
Four turbines of Keban Hydroelectricity Dam has started to work in 1975 and other four turbines was put into use in 1981 after the construction had started in 1965. Dam's total installed capacity is 1330 megawatts and it supplied 20 percent of Turkey's total electricity demand when it started production.
Reporting by Ismail Sen, Pirhasan Dogan and writing by Muhsin Baris Tiryakioglu
Anadolu Agency
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