Turkey's Cenal Elektrik Submits Application for 1050 MW Coal-Fired Power Plant Expansion

en.Wedoany.com Reported - Cenal Elektrik Üretim (a joint venture between Cengiz Holding and Alarko Holding) has submitted an application to Turkey's Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change to build a new 1050 MW coal-fired power generation unit at the Cenal coal-fired power plant in the Karabiga area of Biga district, Çanakkale province. The Cenal plant currently has two 660 MW units, with a total installed capacity of 1320 MW, which entered commercial operation in 2017, generating approximately 9.9 TWh of electricity annually.

This plant is Turkey's first ultra-supercritical coal-fired power generation facility and the country's first digital steam power plant. The plant had previously faced challenges from environmental groups but has obtained a positive environmental impact assessment result. The expansion project application comes at a time of changes in the plant's shareholding structure. Cengiz Holding and Alarko Holding ended their 14-year energy sector partnership at the end of 2025, completing asset division, with the Cenal Karabiga thermal power plant and related generation assets retained by Cengiz Holding, while distribution and electricity sales operations were transferred to Alarko Holding.

Turkey's Energy Market Regulatory Authority has accepted the company's request to add a third unit and increase the production license capacity by 1050 MW, subject to the project obtaining environmental impact assessment approval. The advancement of this expansion project will further increase Turkey's coal-fired power generation capacity, while also facing continued attention from environmental groups.