ICBC provides $508 million loan for 500 MW Konya Ilgın Coal-Fired Power Plant Project

ICBC provides $508 million loan for 500 MW Konya Ilgın Coal-Fired Power Plant Project In May 2015, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) and Konya-Ilgın Elektrik Üretim ve Ticaret A.Ş. — a special purpose vehicle and wholly-owned subsidiary of Park Elektrik (which is owned by Ciner Group) — signed a $508 million USD loan agreement for the 500 MW Konya Ilgın Coal-Fired Power Plant Project.

The proceeds of the loan were to be used by Konya-Ilgın Elektrik Üretim ve Ticaret A.Ş. to partially finance the cost of a commercial contract with Guangdong Electric Power Design Institute (GEDI) Company, which was signed on February 9, 2015.

This project involved the construction of a two-unit, 500-MW, $1.2 billion, mine-to-mouth coal-fired power plant in Konya province.

The project site (Konya Ilgın lignite field) is located 10 km north of Ilgın district, between the villages of Gölyaka, Tekeler, Misafirli, Yorozlar and Çavuşköy.

Upon completion, the project was expected to meet 42 percent of Konya Province’s annual electricity demand It was originally envisaged and announced the plant would start operations in 2019. However, this project has encountered a number of implementation difficulties.

On February 27, 2013, a 49-year electricity generation license was granted by Turkey's Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EMRA) for the Konya Ilgın Thermal Power Plant, where domestic coal (lignite) would be used.

Then, on February 4, 2016, Ali Coşkun Duyak, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors of Ciner Group, told the press that they planned to start mining activities and power plant assembly in 2016, and to complete the plant construction within 36 months. As of July 1, 2016, the project had achieved a 9.23% completion rate.

As of January 1, 2017, it had achieved a 16.4% completion rate.

However, after ancient burial ground archaeology sites (“tumuli”) were discovered under the power station, many problems ensued. In March 2019, a Turkish court issued a ruling to preserve the project area as a grade 1 archaeological site.

Then, in April 2019, Konya-Ilgın Elektrik Üretim ve Ticaret A.Ş. claimed that tumuli wouldn’t be affected by the plant or its associated mining areas and construction would proceed.

Then, in March 2020, the Konya 2nd Administrative Court blocked construction of the Konya Ilgin coal mine that would be used to support the power plant because of the site's archaeological importance.