Hamitabat Combined Cycle Power Plant

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Hamitabat CCPP was built in 1985 in the Kirklareli Province approximately 180km northwest of Istanbul and was Turkey’s first natural gas power plant. In August 2013, Limak Holding privatized the project after it made the highest offer in a competitive bid for $105 million to the Turkish privatization administration, Ozellestirme Idaresi Baskanligi (OIB). In 2015, efforts to expand Hamitabat to 1156MW for $594.57 million took place. The sponsors for the expansion are Limak Yatirim (75%) and InfraMed Infrastructure (25%), which are to provide $107.19 million and $35.73 million in equity, respectively. The remaining $451.65 million was to be financed through debt, making the debt equity ratio 76:24. The bank financing is directed by UniCredit and Yapi Kredi Bankasi, which are providing $154.36 million and $74.32 million, respectively. KfW ($68.6 million), ING ($108.62 million), and DZ Bank ($45.74 million) are also providing loans. ECA's Euler Hermes of Germany and Delcredere Ducroire of Belgium also provided debt guarantees. The plant is retrofitted with new Siemens turbines to bring it up to 62% efficiency. The output is sold on a merchant basis on the Turkish electricity market, and its location in European Turkey gives it direct access to the European interconnector system. The project reached financial closure May 15, 2015. It is expected the project will be fully operational by mid-2017.