Atatürk Dam and Hydroelectric Plant
Dam and hydroelectric scheme, 48,823 hm3 reservoir (817 km2 lake); 2,405 MW installed; 8,100 GWh/year in Turkey.
Operational
Landmark The centrepiece of the GAP programme: 48 km3 held on the Euphrates, and the water that reaches the Harran plain.
The record
- Country
- Turkey
- Location
- Bozova, Şanlıurfa
- Coordinates
- 37.480, 38.320
- Technology
- Dam and hydroelectric scheme
- Capacity
- 48,823 hm3 reservoir (817 km2 lake); 2,405 MW installed; 8,100 GWh/year
- Capital cost
- US$1.25 billion
- Stage
- Operational
- Owner or client
- General Directorate of State Hydraulic Works (DSI)
- Contractor
- ATA Insaat consortium; turbines Sulzer Escher Wyss; generators ABB
- Operator
- Elektrik Uretim A.S. (EUAS)
- Finance
- —
- Award or start year
- 1983
- Commissioned
- 1992
Record last checked 2026-09-18.
History
- 1983
Construction started
- 1990
Dam body completed
- 1992
First generating units commissioned
- 1993-12
Full operation reported
- 1995-04
Reservoir water first released through the Sanliurfa tunnels to the Harran plain
Sources
5 references
Every field in the record above is taken from the references below. A field that none of them confirms prints as a dash.
- EUAS, Ataturk HEPP plant page. euas.gov.tr.
- Gives 2,405 MW (8 x 300 MW plus a 5 MW auxiliary unit), 48,823 hm3 reservoir, 817 km2 lake, clay core rockfill body 184 m high and 1,664 m long, 8,100 GWh/year, construction from 1983, first unit 1992. Power Technology project profile, Ataturk Dam, Euphrates River, Anatolia (bot-walled to curl, returns 403). power-technology.com.
- Gives construction cost US$1.25bn, construction 1983 to 1990, full operation December 1993, ATA Insaat and Dolsar Engineering, Sulzer Escher Wyss turbines and ABB generators, and the Sanliurfa tunnel command area.
- GAP Regional Development Administration, Sanliurfa-Harran Ovalari 1. Asama Sulamasina Ait 1995 Yili Uygulamalarinin Degerlendirilmesi, March 1996. gap.gov.tr.
- MENA Water Review major projects register and PPP pipeline — compiled from procurer publications, development-bank project pages and trade reporting; each record names its source.
Records that water first flowed from the Ataturk reservoir through the Sanliurfa tunnels on 11 April 1995.