Electricity transmission issues in Turkey will be resolved without any interruptions in the grid, by using a new method, Turkish Energy Minister Ali Riza Alaboyun said Sunday.
Speaking after meeting with Turkish Electricity Transmission Company's (TEIAS) Director General Mehmet Sinan Yildirim in Incek neighborhood of Golbasi district in capital Ankara attending maintenance activities, Alaboyun said the method is developed with France.
'We have watched our TEIAS facilities live maintenance. We can step in to transmit electricity to problematic areas without any issues now, and without having any interruptions in the grid,' he said, emphasizing that the maintenance in the 401,000 volts power line can be carried out without any supply disruptions.
Hoping that live maintenance in transmission lines would be applied to distribution lines in city grids in future, the energy minister said 'With this live maintenance, we solve issues without any costs, nor having interruptions. Because electricity cuts have economic and social costs on our citizens, while they also cause speculations.'
'In order to prevent these, eight of our employees had training at live power lines, while another eight had training in live transformer lines amid the twinning project we have with France. This procedure is in effect since the 1960s in France, and even longer in the U.S. Our number of employees in this respect will also increase, while the legal framework is complete. There will be incentives made in terms of their wages as well,' he explained.
Noting that Turkey has more than 52,000 kilometers-long transmission lines and 1,150,000 kilometers of distribution lines in cities, Alaboyun said there will be four helicopters ready to ensure secure electricity transmission the day Turkey will have re-elections on November 1.
'Our experts will be able to respond to transmission lines via helicopters. Right now, there are no issues in supplying electricity. We have taken all the precautions for the election day. Our new slogan will be 'Working for Turkey, wtih all our energy'. We are hoping to complete the election day without any issues,' he explained.
Meanwhile, Ergul Coskun, an electricity technician who performs live maintenance on transmission lives, explained that the conductive suit he wears distributes the electricity evenly.
'We learned this from French technicians. Training has been going for two years now. Before anything else, this is based on teamwork. We continue training, which helps us to learn the technique of this method,' he added.
Reporting by Murat Temizer
Writing by Ovunc Kutlu
Anadolu Agency
ovunc.kutlu@aa.com.tr