Italy's Edison eyes to joint venture in Turkey

"In Turkey we are negotiating a joint venture with a Turkish partner, but we have not yet disclosed it to the market. We are in the process of discussions," the newspaper quoted Quadrino as saying in an interview Thursday.

Quadrino declined to name the prospective partner. Â

The new joint venture may be similar to another it has just set up with Greece's Hellenic Petroleum SA, Quadrino said.

Edison has been interested in Turkey, which is critically short of generating capacity, for some time. Earlier this year it was one of several major European producers, including Germany's RWE AG, to express interest in a government tender for the construction and operation of two thermal power units in Afsin-Elbistan, located near Kahramanmaras in southern Turkey. However, it hasn't submitted a tender for either plant.

Despite this, Quadrino said, it is still interested in investing in thermal plants in Turkey.

"We will look into the conditions (regarding the thermal plants in Turkey) but we have not yet made a judgment on it," Quadrino also told Dow Jones.

Edison signed an agreement establishing a 50-50 joint venture with Hellenic Petroleum to operate in the Greek electrical power market on Thursday.

Edison says that, through various subsidiaries, the Greek joint venture will have a generating capacity of more than 1,500 megawatts, equal to about 12 percent of Greece's total generating capacity. Once fully operational, the Edison-Hellenic Petroleum joint venture will be the second-largest power producer in Greece.

The joint venture will pool assets owned by Hellenic's T-Power division - namely a 390 MW, natural-gas fired, combined-cycle power plant that is already operational in Thessaloniki - and Edison's 65 percent stake in a 420 MW plant being built at Thisvi and a planned 600 MW plant in the industrial park of the port of Astakos.Â