Turkey to link electricity grids with Europe in June – ENTSO-E

Turkey is to start commercial capacity exchanges with Greece and Bulgaria from 1 June, the European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO-E) said on Wednesday (4th May).
ENTSO-E approved the third phase of the synchronous operation of the Turkish grid with the European system, following the successful completion of the second phase earlier this year.
Commercial exchanges are set to start next month, when up to 400MW from Bulgaria and Greece will be transferred towards Turkey and another 300MW will flow in reverse direction.
A source close to TEIAS, the Turkish grid operator, said the start of the commercial flows will coincide with the launch of a monthly auction platform where traders can bid for capacity.
The cross-border auctions with neighbouring Bulgaria and Greece would be carried out under the umbrella of the European Central Allocation Office (see EDEM 3 December 2010).
Capacity allocations may be increased gradually up to the allowable technical limits, providing that the previously allocated transfers are carried out successfully.
"ENTSO-E`s regional group will continue monitoring thoroughly the performance of the Turkish power system, especially inter-area oscillations and the performance of secondary control in order to avoid any negative impacts to regional and Europe-wide systems while achieving positive effects on security of supply and the electricity markets that are the motivation for this synchronous interconnection," ENTSO-E said in a statement released to the press.
The synchronisation operation started on 18 September when the Turkish system started parallel trial interconnection with south-eastern Europe, through a 400kV line with Greece and two 400kV lines with Bulgaria (see EDEM 20 September 2010).
The first two phases were purely technical and no trading was involved.
Turkey is also considering importing capacity from Romania through a subsea cable under the Black Sea. In June 2009, Swedish firm Vattenfall signed an agreement with Romania`s grid operator, Transelectrica, to undertake a feasibility study for the subsea cable.
Officials at the Romanian foreign ministry recently told the local press that Swedish companies may be interested in becoming fully involved in the project (see EDEM 19 April 2011).

Turkey and Iran
In a separate development, Turkish energy minister Taner Yildiz told local press on Wednesday that Ankara was discussing with Tehran the possibility of energy transfers between their two countries.
ICIS Heren understands that there are already exchanges of up to 150MW between the two states. Turkey and Iran are now looking to increase those transfers to 500MW according to the local press.
A Turkish company is thought to have secured a 500MW export deal to Syria. The capacity would flow from the 672MW Birecik hydro plant in southern Turkey to Aleppo in Syria.
Yilidz told the local press that Turkey was exploring the possibility of setting up transfers with neighbouring Azerbaijan, Russia and Turkmenistan. ICIS Heren could not confirm the information.
ENTSO-E is yet to clarify whether flows with non-EU countries would be allowed under its own guidelines.
(THE ICIS HEREN REPORTS - EDEM 15083 / 04 May 2011)