Lower Kaleköy Dam and HEPP

Lower Kaleköy, known as Aşağı Kaleköy, is located on the Murat River, a major source of the Euphrates, in Bingöl province, in eastern Türkiye. It is creating a reservoir to impound 600 million m³ of water.

It is the third level of a cascade development of 4 projects implemented by Kalehan Energy in different provinces along the lower reaches of the Murat River basin on a “finance-build-operate-transfer” basis for a concession period of 49 years, while the fourth one is ready for execution to reach an aggregate hydroelectric power capacity of 2,350 MW.

Kalehan Energy, a production company formed by Özaltın and Cengiz Companies with an equal number of shares, owns, and operates this hydroelectric power plant.

The development encompasses a composite dam consisting of a 510 meters long, water impermeable asphalt core rock-fill embankment on the left bank of the river, a 250 meters long roller compacted concrete (RCC) gravity structure with an integral conventional concrete spillway in the middle, and a conventional concrete (CVC) frontal water intake, which has a crest length of 185 meters on the right abutment as part of the dam. The dam features a 95 meters height from the riverbed and with an overall composite length of 945 meters.

The powerhouse has three (3) individual 155.49 MW Francis turbines, each paired with its vertical axis synchronous generators, and one (1) additional 33.53 MW eco-flow unit with a total installed capacity of 500.10 MW. The construction of the project began in the beginning of 2016, and plant entered into commercial operations in 2020. It produces an annual electrical output of 1.450 billion kilowatt hours (kWh) of clean energy a year.

The project plays an important role in meeting the growing national power needs, while offsetting harmful emissions from other energy sources and reducing the coal consumption in the country.