Turkey to connect with European grid, expanding energy and economic opportunities

ATLANTA, USA: Turkey will connect to the European electrical grid this September using GE's smart grid technology. The connection will allow for expanded energy and economic opportunities.

The Turkish Electricity Transmission Company (TEIAS) will now be able to buy and sell power in the European electricity market and the connection will strengthen the reliability and availability of energy throughout all of Europe.

"The territory serviced by ENTSO-E (European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity) is one of the highest demand regions for energy in the world,” according to a report issued in 2009 by the Ministry of Energy.

“The energy policies of ENTSO-E’s countries are driving a single market model through the synchronization of more networks, thus increasing the reliability of the supply of electricity to maximize the efficiency of generation, transmission, distribution and consumption of energy while minimizing environmental impact.”

Connecting Turkey with the rest of the European grid is an important step to help meet these initiatives. The cross-border system may also enable a new, cleaner energy mix for Europe. There is a demand for renewable energy in European countries, and Turkey has massive renewable energy sources, which makes this new relationship mutually beneficial to both TEIAS and ENTSO-E.

“Smart grid solutions are opening energy opportunities in new ways every day,” said Bob Gilligan, vice president—digital energy for GE Energy Services. “Our communications and control technologies are enabling international trade and power-sharing breakthroughs that seemed nearly impossible just a few years ago. When Turkey joins the European energy community, it will be a vital step forward for power systems on both sides of the connection.”

GE’s smart grid communications and wide area protection solutions will monitor grid status at the points of connection and automate the control of generation and load within Turkey. The system will optimize power sharing and power quality while improving reliability and preventing cascading outages.

GE completed the engineering for the system in a matter of months, using proven products and system integration expertise. Currently in the final phases of testing, GE’s wide-area protection solutions should enable the first inter-connection of Turkey’s and European grids in September.