The dam will be located directly downstream of the Botan and Büyük River confluence. Also part of the Çetin project is a smaller dam 6 km (4 mi) downstream with 45 m (148 ft) in height. The Çetin lower dam will regulate outflows from the Çetin main dam and also produce hydroelectric power with a 112 MW capacity via two 56 MW Kaplan turbines.
Overall, six dams are to be built on the Botan River, among which Çetin dam will have the largest power plant.
Design
Çetin Dam is a roller-compacted concrete body embankment dam. With a volume exceeding 4.7 million m3, il will be the biggest of its kind in Turkey, and bigger than any existing RCC dam in Europe. The dam will be 165 m high and create a 615 million m3 reservoir.[3]
The dam's power plant will house four vertical axis Francis turbine-generators, three of them with a 135 MW capacity and a smaller 15 MW one.[4]
Funding
The owner was the Norwegian, Statkraft, at a cost of US $678 million. The Contractor was Yϋksel-iLci Joint Venture. Veidekke Industri AS was the subcontractor for Cetin dam. In September 2017, Limak invested $400 million to purchase the rights, in order to complete the whole project by 2020–21.[5][6]
Timeline
Construction on the main dam began in December 2011 and the power plant was first expected to be complete in 2015, with a planned capacity of 401 MW.[7]
The project experienced delays due to Kurdistan Workers' Party attacks on the construction site and equipment. In February 2016, Statkraft suspended construction.[8] Works resumed in July 2017.[9]
Construction was 84% complete as of September 2019 ; at that time, as many as 15,000 m3 of concrete are poured onto the structure every day.[3]
The dam started impounding water in January 2020.[4] The first two units of the power station started generating electricity in April 2020, whereas the two remaining ones are expected to be commissioned by May 2020.[9]
