Turkey has announced a new solar tender to be launched by the end of the year. Initial information gives some clues as to what this tender might include.
The country’s energy minister Berat Albayrak recently stated Turkey plans to launch new tenders for coal and solar power capacity by the end of the year. He spoke at a recently opened call center, the first of nine planned facilities intended to collect complaints from electricity consumers.
The tenders are not just for solar. They include coal electricity production, as well. “By launching the first local coal and solar tenders before the end of the year, we will take steps to turn Turkey into a research and development center,” Albayrak said.
Planned solar PV tender calls for 1 GW of capacity
“The first solar tender will be for 1 GW, with mandatory local production,”Ates Ugurel, founder of the Turkish Solar Energy Society Solarbab told pv magazine. Ugerel added the bids would probably allow only mono/poly technology. “Thin film technology is at the moment excluded, but that could change as well,” he said. “The real motivation behind the new solar tender is to create a local industry, not just for cell and module manufacturing but also for ingot and wafer.”
Whether or not these tenders will happen remain to be seen. pv mgazine author Ilias Tsagas provides a perspective:
“It appears that Turkey, like Russia, wants to support solar projects that only use locally manufactured components.
“But even with such a policy in place, investors must be asking themselves whether they can take Albayrak’s announcement seriously. This is because it is unclear whether the minister honestly wants to promote solar energy, or whether it is a publicity stunt.”
To date, Turkey has installed 650 MW of solar PV. Turkey’s grid has reached about 70 GW. For this reason, the government is paving the way for more power investments, added the minister.
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