Statkraft Cuts Back on Power Trading in Turkey

Norwegian utility company Statkraft said it has reduced its power trading operations in Turkey due to declining market liquidity and an unpredictable outlook.

 

A company spokesman said Statkraft now trades only electricity it generates itself at its two hydropower plants in Turkey.

 

"Statkraft has stopped proprietary trading activities in Turkey as of January 1, 2018 due to a difficult market outlook and declining liquidity," spokesman Lars Magnus Gunther said in an email on Monday, without elaborating.

 

He did not disclose what trading volumes these activities represent or what the impact would be on the firm's earnings.

 

Statkraft sold an unfinished hydropower plant in Turkey last year to local group Limak, after fighting between Turkish security forces and Kurdish PKK militants in 2016 forced it to stop the plant's construction.

 

Gunther said the company would continue to own and operate its two remaining plants in the country, he added.

 

The Cakıt and Kargi hydropower plants have a combined capacity of 122 megawatts (MW) and are part of the feed-in regime in Turkey, not exposed to the Turkish forward market.

 

Foreign investor appetite for ventures in Turkey has declined since a failed coup attempt in 2016.


(Reporting by Lefteris Karagiannopoulos; Editing by Susan Fenton)