Power companies left in the rubble

After the GSM operators in the earthquake region, electricity distribution companies were also in the class. The profit of the company was again above the life of the citizen. It was planned to make it mandatory for power companies to have generators in order to cover emergency power needs in extraordinary situations like earthquakes. For this, a draft regulation was prepared to meet the need, even partially, and it was opened to view. However, the draft regulation was not to the liking of the companies. The project, which was elaborated with human life in mind, was modified by reducing the number of generators and the power of the generator according to the demands of the companies. It is claimed that due to regulations prioritizing company profits, enough generators cannot be sent to salvage works carried out at night on post-quake rubble.

PROJECT PREPARED IN 2021

The Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EMRA) prepared a draft regulation in August 2021 to meet emergency electricity needs with generators in case power lines become unusable due to disasters and similar reasons. Draft; It required distribution companies to have at least one mobile generator for every 100,000 inhabitants, with at least one in each province and each one with a power of at least 100 kilovolt amps (kvA). However, the regulation was published in April 2022 at the request of the companies. With the new regulation, it was considered sufficient to have at least one mobile generator with a power of at least 50 kVA in ‘provincial centers’ with a population of more than 100,000 and district centers with a population of more than 100,000. For example, companies that are required to have at least 10 generators of 100 kVA power each for a city center with a population of 1 million, can only have 1 generator of 50 kVA power in the same city with the regulation current.

I would light up a thousand shipwrecks

Generators became vitally important as provinces that suffered from earthquakes could not be supplied with electricity for safety of life. It is estimated that a mobile generator with a power of 50 kvA can light up 50 wrecks at the same time and save lives. With the same power generator, the lighting needs of 25 tents can be covered. However, if the regulation had been enacted with human life in mind instead of businesses, search and rescue would have been possible in thousands of claims, at least 100 claims, at the same time with each generator. In addition, the generators of the surrounding provinces would be ready.