Dams

The newly opened Ilısu Prof. Dr. Veysel Eroğlu Dam will contribute 3 billion Turkish Liras to Turkey's economy annually, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Nov. 6.

The Turkish president on Nov. 6 inaugurated the Ilısu Dam in the country's southeastern province Mardin.

Its total water storage volume is 11 billion cubic meters and can generate 1,200 megawatts of hydroelectricity.

Recent rainfall have been good news for Turkey's most crowded metropolis Istanbul, as the province was troubled by drought fears earlier this year.

Water levels in the dams supplying the city have finally reached 80 percent thanks to the precipitation.

Energy production at the Ilısu Dam in southeast Turkey has reached full capacity, Agriculture Minister Bekir Pakdemirli said on Dec. 24, adding that it is expected to contribute 2.8 billion lira ($366 million) a year to the economy.

A new dam and hydroelectric power plant built in Turkey's northeastern Artvin province will add 1.5 billion Turkish liras (over $221 million) to the economy every year, the country's president said on June 6.

Water in Kars Dam in Turkey's northeast has filled to the brim, with only half of the minaret of a mosque surviving above water and a village having completely submerged, as the dam is set to irrigate 50,000 hectares of agricultural land and generate energy.

Turkey on May 19 commissioned the first tribune of the power plant at the Ilısu Dam on the Tigris River in the southeastern Mardin province. 

"The wind of peace, brotherhood and prosperity that will blow from the Ilısu Dam will be felt in these lands for centuries," President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told the ceremony which he attended via a video link.

Within the scope of Ilısu Dam rescue excavations, the missing pieces of a historical play set, which was found in 2012 in the southeastern province of Siirt's Başur Mound, have been unearthed.

Bulgarian pumped-storage hydropower plant (HPP) Chaira has extended the unplanned outage of one of its units by three days to August 23, the Independent Bulgarian Energy Exchange (IBEX) said on Tuesday, reports Renewables Now.

HPP Chaira shut down one of its units on August 10 for unplanned restoration works, which was expected to resume operations on August 20, IBEX data shows.

Grapes, cherries, apricots and chestnuts have flourished on the once desolate islet in Keban Dam Lake thanks to the 14-year-long efforts of a retired old man.