New thermal plant to be constructed in Turkey

Energy and Natural Resources Minister Taner Yildiz said in a written statement that the exploration which has been carried out by the Mineral Research and Exploration (MTA) in the Dinar district of Afyon for five years had now been completed and they had discovered lignite reserves in the area totaling around 950 million tons. "We aim to build a 3,500-megawatt thermal power plant with an investment totaling $5 billion. It means employment for 6,000 or 7,000 in the plant's construction and the mining field," Yildiz said.  Recalling that Turkey's goal is to generate one-third of its electricity via coal by 2023, Yildiz noted, "We aim to raise the local coal-fired power plant's capacity to 30,000 MW in the next 10 years. Coal power plants will be built using resources from the Turkish Coal Enterprises' coal mining fields in Afsin-Elbistan, Karapinar-Konya, Dinar-Afyon and Alpu-Eskisehir.