Investment decision making in hpp projects: Comparison of domestic and international practices

Energy has been a very important value in the development of modern world. Nations that have been using the energy resources efficiently have successfully increased their welfare. It is often speculated that energy resources are the main factors of the global political debates. Energy resources have continuously been searched. Consequently, thermal, hydro, wind and solar energy are widely being harvested all around the world. Each of these has several advantages and disadvantages, but all have one point in common: mankind needs to use them, and every little piece (single watt) has become more and more valuable. Obviously, the value always comes with a price, which means an investment should be done. The main focus of this study is Hydro Power Plants (HPP?s). The objective is to analyze the lifecycle costing of these projects and investigate the challenges at the feasibility stage, which shapes the major part of the costs. In this respect, domestic and international practices in terms of feasibility reports have been investigated through an extensive literature survey. In order to further examine the differences, several interviews were performed with experts and a number of actual feasibility reports were reviewed. In addition, other international practices which have been available from the literature survey have been reviewed including many countries all over the world such as USA, Australia, Georgia, Albenia, Spain, etc. One of the main objectives of this thesis has been to compare the domestic and international practices to provide recommendations for Turkish Feasibility Reports (TFRs). To achieve the objectives of this thesis, several feasibility reports have been reviewed and these are presented as case studies. The shortcomings and the root causes of problems were searched, and the findings were evaluated. One of the key findings is that investors do not realize the importance of the initial steps of a HPP project. The necessary funding for site exploration and engineering consultancy works is not being allocated in the earlier stages of the project.