ICCI 2016 in Istanbul: The German working group "Conventional Power Plants" coordinated by VGB presented its activities at the Turkish-German Energy Forum (TGEF)

The 22nd International Energy & Environment Fair & Conference, ICCI, which was held April 27–29 in Istanbul, is viewed as the Turkish energy sector's biggest event. "We wanted to take this opportunity to promote our activities at the Turkish-German Energy Forum," said Dr. Oliver Then, Head of the Department Power Plant and Environmental Technologies at VGB, explaining the motivation for participating at the event.
ICCI 2016 in Istanbul
(left-to-right) Dr. Tamer Turna, Daniel Voswinkel,
Dr. Oliver Then and Chair Selahattin Hakman

The 22nd International Energy & Environment Fair & Conference, ICCI, which was held April 27–29 in Istanbul, is viewed as the Turkish energy sector's biggest event. "We wanted to take this opportunity to promote our activities at the Turkish-German Energy Forum," said Dr. Oliver Then, Head of the Department Power Plant and Environmental Technologies at VGB, explaining the motivation for participating at the event. It also gave the association the opportunity to make direct contact with Turkish power plant operators. The VGB, together with interested companies, presented solutions to problems that are on the agenda of the TGEF working group "Conventional Power Plants, Modernization of Power Stations and Lignite Extraction" at its exhibition stand. These issues include, for example, increasing the performance of existing power plants with regard to availability, efficiency and service life or providing further education and training for operating personnel.

In the session organised by the VGB, "Turkish-German Energy Cooperation: Challenges and Opportunities", on the opening day of the ICCI, it became evident that making conventional power stations more flexible was becoming increasingly important for the Turkish market as well. That Germany has already gained plenty of experience in this area was made clear in the presentations held by Daniel Voswinkel, Head of Projects & Markets at STEAG GmbH and Dr. Oliver Then. "In Turkey we are increasingly focusing on renewable energies. Especially because of our insular geography we rely heavily on flexible power plans," explained Dr. Tamer Turna, CEO of Yildirim Energy Holding Inc. He presented his vision of a sustainable energy supply for Turkey in his talk.

Following this session in the official conference program, those interested could share their experience and thoughts at the VGB stand with experts from the German working group. The specialist program was supported by representatives of the following companies and institutions: Babcock Borsig Steinmüller GmbH, Doosan Lentjes GmbH, Kraftwerksschule e.V., Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems Europe GmbH, Rheinmetall Defence Electronics GmbH, REINSTEIN GmbH, Siemens AG, Uniper Anlagenservice GmbH and VPC GmbH. "The interesting discussions and many contacts made encourage us to further develop the activities in the Energy Forum," summarized Dr. Then. Turkey remains an important growth market. Together with the AHK Istanbul, which largely organizes the TGEF activities locally, the VGB plans to hold a meeting of the working group in the second half of the year in Turkey.

In August 2015 the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy contracted the VGB to coordinate the TGEF working group. The Turkish-German Energy Forum is one of the German government's activities in the framework of the bilateral energy partnership. It was set up in 2012 with the goal to institutionalise all cooperation between energy sector representatives from Turkey and Germany. Aside from the VGB-coordinated working group, additional groups are actively working on renewable energy, energy efficiency, distribution grids, and regulation topics.