Berkman Dam and HEPP

The 39 MW Berkman Dam and its Hydroelectric Power Plant are located on the Ceyhan River in the southern part of Türkiye. It is the second phase of a power station completed in the cascade development of two infrastructure projects by the joint venture between Özaltın Construction Company and Nurol Construction Company and led by the former.

The contractual deliverables included a composite dam which comprises a combination of an earth embankment having an impervious clay-core with a fill volume of 580,000 m³, an overflow frontal spillway, regulated by four radial gates with a discharge capacity of 4,500 m³/s, and a concrete frontal power intake, where all these structures are incorporated into the dam. The scheme  resulted in a composite length of 345 meters across the Ceyhan River valley with a structural height of 30 meters. At least 1,500,000 m³ of soil was excavated for the foundation of the dam as well as 150,000 m³ of tailwater river dredging was performed. About 120,000 m³ of concrete was poured to build the spillway. Also 300,000 m3 of concrete was used to construct the powerhouse and power intake.

The semi-outdoor powerhouse, is equipped with three (3) pit-type horizontal axis Kaplan turbine-generator units, utilizing a 16.5-meter hydraulic head and delivering an output of 13 MW each. With a total installed power capacity of 39 MW, the plant produces 160 million kWh of renewable clean energy a year. Other deliverables were a 170 kV switchyard and a 22-kilometer long, 170 kV energy transmission line integrated into the national grid to supply the generated power from the plant. The construction of the project began in 2007, and all units have been commissioned in 2010.