The state Turkish Electricity Generation & Transmission Corporation (TEAS) on 15 November signed a contract worth an estimated $81 million with a joint venture of the US' Babcock & Wilcox and the local Gama. The work will involve installation of flue gas desulphuration (FGD) units at the 630-MW Gokova power station.

The FGD unit is needed urgently because the Gokova plant is one of four fuelled by lignite in Turkey's north and southwest which have been served with court orders for their closure because of high sulphur dioxide emissions. The government has overridden the court orders, on the grounds that the region would otherwise suffer severe power shortages.

Bids are also being invited for the installation of a FGD unit costing about

$60 million at the 420-MW Yenikoy thermal power plant fuelled by lignite in Mugla (see Tenders). Work has recently started on the installation of FGD systems at the 630-MW Yatagan plant, also in Mugla, by a venture of Germany's Bischoff with the local Guris. This $77 million contract was awarded two years ago, but held up until credit negotiations were completed. All three plants in Mugla province were built by ventures led by Poland's Elektrim in the 1970s and 1980s.

Installation of an FGD system at the

210-MW Orhaneli plant near the important northwest industrial city of Bursa is scheduled for completion in May 1997 by a venture of Germany's Noell and Turkey's Teknotas.