Construction of Bolu Göynük Thermal Power Plant started in 2012, where the first phase became operational with 135 MW installed capacity in July 2015 and the second phase, 135 MW, became operational in January 2016.
Aksa Energy added lignite coal to its fuel mix for the first time with Bolu Göynük Thermal Power Plant, which was established with an investment of USD 390 million. Bolu Göynük Thermal Power Plant, one of the first privately owned power plants utilizing domestic coal in Turkey, contributes to Turkish economy by reducing foreign dependence on energy, as it generates electricity from a local resource.
Bolu Göynük Thermal Power Plant runs on lignite as a result of the very first royalty agreement signed between the General Directorate of Turkish Coal, which allows the use of lignite mines by the private sector.
Bolu Göynük Thermal Power Plant, which uses 1.8 million tons of domestic coal per year for electricity generation, extracts lignite from an open pit mine located at a distance of 2 km to the power plant. Therefore, the effect of the dust generated during the transportation of lignite to the environment is minimized. As of December 31, 2020, there are 30.03 million tons of lignite reserves with a thermal value of 2,254 kcal/kg in the field.
Bolu Göynük Thermal Power Plant makes important contributions to the region’s economic and social development. Out of 1,200 people employed during the project’s construction phase, majority were the residents of Bolu Göynük and neighbor villages.
Thanks to its advanced technology, Bolu Göynük Thermal Power Plant generates energy in a low-cost, efficient and environmentally friendly manner.
The Plant was designed with fluidized bed combustion technology, which is an alternative to the pulverized coal combustion technology employed in most plants. Thanks to this technology, combustion is realized with solid fuel, consisting of coal and limestone, on the air cushion formed with the air under the combustion room due to the fluidized bed boiler. This process ensures that coal remains in the boiler combustion room for longer, enabling combustion reaction at lower temperatures. This technology reduces environmentally harmful NOx emissions to a minimum.
The desulphurization process is realized directly inside the boiler by using limestone during combustion. This technology both minimizes the emission of the gases harmful to the environment and boosts the plant’s
efficiency, thus lowering the cost of power generation.
The same conscientious approach is applied when eliminating ash created during the combustion of lignite. The ash generated in the power plant started to be stored in the Southern Regular Ash Storage Area, which received an environmental permit from the Bolu Provincial Directorate of Environment and Urbanization in 2017, instead of the temporary ash storage facility. In 2019, rehabilitation of the Southern External Dump Site, which completed its lifecycle, was completed; the site was handed over to the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. Around 140,000 saplings were planted in 2019 and around 60,000 saplings were planted in 2020 at this site by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.
Aksa Energy has made necessary investments proactively to counter the negative impact of lignite coal on the environment and human health. To this end, the Company established a flue gas treatment system at Bolu Göynük Thermal Power Plant on July 15, 2015. Following the expiration of the period given to lignite- and coal-fired power plants to complete their investments to install a flue gas treatment system as of December 31, 2019, facilities that have not completed their filter investment have been shut down while Bolu Göynük Thermal Power Plant continued its operation without any interruption.
Bolu Göynük Thermal Power Plant, the first power plant with fluidized-bed boilers and wet flue gas purification systems in Turkey, has met all legal and regulatory requirements stipulated by environmental legislation since it was commissioned in 2015 thanks to its advanced combustion and treatment technologies. The facility also has the “Environmental Permit and License Certificate” on Air Emission, Waste Water Discharge and Regular Storage. The power plant continues its environmental monitoring efforts to ensure the continuance of the certificate. The facility has also passed the Integrated Environmental Inspection made by the Bolu Provincial Directorate of Environment and Urbanization with zero offense in 2019. As a result of the audit carried out in September 2020, the power plant was granted TSE Covid-19 Safe Production Certificate for fulfilling all the requirements listed in the Covid-19 Hygiene, Infection Prevention and Control Guide for industrial facilities, published by the Ministry of Industry and Technology of the Republic of Turkey. At the beginning of 2021, the plant was also granted Basic Level Zero Waste Certificate within the scope of the Zero Waste Project, implemented by the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization for efficient use of resources.