Afşin-Elbistan power stations

The Afşin-Elbistan power stations are two coal-fired power stations in Turkey, a few kilometres apart in Afşin District in Kahramanmaraş Province. Both Afşin-Elbistan A, built in the 1980s, and the newer Afşin-Elbistan B burn lignite (brown coal) from the nearby Elbistan coalfield. As their mines are opencast and next to the power stations the coal is cheap. However, as the existing units are the older subcritical type, and Turkish lignite is very low quality, they are not very efficient.

Both plants were built and first operated by the state-owned Electricity Generation Company, but Afşin-Elbistan A was sold to Çelikler Holding in 2018. Çelikler employs almost 1500 people, mostly local. Due a landslide at its mine stopping the supply of nearby coal, in late 2024 Afşin-Elbistan B stopped generating, but it may reopen in mid-2025.

Power station air pollution, such as sulfur dioxide, is trapped by surrounding mountains, and Greenpeace alleges that levels of particulates and nitrogen oxides in the atmosphere have exceeded legal limits. The Environment Ministry has not released flue gas measurements, and there is no recent public data from the nearest air quality monitor. Official health impact assessments are not done in Turkey,^: 50 but the Right to Clean Air Platform estimates that this air pollution has killed over 17 thousand people. In December 2024 the environmental impact assessment allowing Çelikler Holding to build more coal power was approved. This is the only proposal for new unabated coal power in the OECD, and Human Rights Watch said that it conflicts with Turkey's bid to host the 2026 climate change conference.