The first "Renewable Energy Project Days - 1: Innovative Projects Day in Hydropower" event, organized under the leadership of TÜBİTAK Marmara Research Center (MAM) in cooperation with the Turkish Electricity Industry Association (TESAB) and TOBB University of Economics and Technology (ETU), was successfully hosted by TOBB ETU HIDRO on October 10-11, 2025. The event was completed with the intense interest of over 200 participants from public, private sector, universities and research institutions.
Minister of Energy Mr. Alparslan Bayraktar, TOBB President Mr. Rıfat Hisarcıklıoğlu, TESAB Chairman Mr. Zafer Benli and TOBB ETU Rector Prof. Dr. Yusuf Sarınay delivered the official addresses on this day and the opening speech was delivered by Dr. Doğan Gezer, Vice President Coordinator of TÜBİTAK MAM Energy Technologies.
Mehmet Akif Bütüner from TÜBİTAK MAM Renewable Energy Research Group presented and introduced the project "Artificial Intelligence Supported Anomaly Detection in Hydroelectric Power Plants", which develops an artificial intelligence and machine learning based approach for early detection of equipment failures that may occur in hydroelectric power plants and provides precise anomaly detection using intelligent models that can define dynamic threshold values according to operating conditions instead of traditional fixed threshold based control systems.
On the 2nd day of the event, a technical visit was made to Sarıyar Hasan Polatkan HEPP, which was commissioned in 1956 and is one of the oldest hydroelectric power plants of Elektrik Üretim A.Ş. with an installed capacity of 160 MW. In this context, information was given about the rehabilitation project carried out by TÜBİTAK MAM at the power plant, in which 20 different critical subsystems in the hydroelectric power plant are designed and renewed with domestic and national facilities, eliminating dependence on external resources.
TÜBİTAK MAM continues to shape Turkey's energy future with innovative projects that will contribute to digitalization, domestic technology development and sustainable energy transformation in the field of hydroelectricity.
