Site selection for the new Soma Thermal Power Plant between Kayrakaltı and Türkpiyale Dear Readers, The Soma Deniş leasing tender for a local coal fring thermal power plant to be located next to the open pit coal felds was completed as of August 2012 under a 49-year leasing scheme. The investor is expected to spend 900 million US dollars to install a 3x150 MWe thermal power plant that will utilize open pit coal from the nearby coal feld. The investor is expected to provide 25-30% equity and receive 75-80% external fnancing for the project. According to the preliminary Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), the new plant is to generate 3.5 billion kw-hours per year that will then be sold on the local energy market. The Soma Deniş open pit coal feld hosts 152 million tons of proven coal reserves with each kg exhibiting a 1200-1500 kcal lower calorifc value. We estimate that proven reserves will be capable of feeding the new thermal power plant for the next 20 years. The Deniş coal feld also feeds as-received coal to the nr. 5-6 already existing units of the Soma-B plant, each of which boasts a 165 MWe output capacity. The new thermal power plant will be designed to employ super-critical circulating fuid bed (CFB) technology in steam boilers as well as coal crushers, electrostatic dust collectors, fresh air and induced fans (one stack for all three units), an air-cooling tower, a fue gas desulphurization (FGD) system, turbine generators, a main switchyard, and main transmission lines that will connect to the national grid. The plant will also be supplemented with a coal feeding and coal storage yard, fy and botom ash silos, and either an ash dam or landfll area. According to the contract that was signed between the highest bidder and the Turkish Privatization Administration, the investor will have a grace period to construct the plant that is not to exceed 6 years, and after the plant begins to generate electricity it is to pay the Turkish Treasury 4.69 Turkish kuruş (approximately 1.76 US cents) per kw-hour of electricity generated and sold to the national grid. During its construction period, the plant will employ approximately 1,000 skilled and unskilled workers in total, yet when it comes online it will need approximately 500 skilled workers to operate. Turkey’s Local Energy Market Regulatory Agency received the investor’s license application together with the EIA, which consisted of 500+ pages detailing the environment in which the plant was to be constructed, yet the Assessment did not mention the nearby olive tree groves. The Assessment also outlined why the site near Yırca village was selected. After the license application was approved, the investing company entered the area and ruthlessly felled 6,600+ olive trees. Politicians equated the 500 year-old sacred olive trees' contribution to the society with that of the thermal power plant, which would probably boast a 2-3 year uninterrupted life span. This was an unfortunate comparison void of reasonable justifcation.