Turkey's
Renewable Energy Resource Zone Project (YEKA) inaugurated Turkey's first
integrated solar module, cell and panel production factory at a ground-breaking
ceremony in the capital Ankara on Thursday.
The
photovoltaic (PV) factory to be located in Ankara's industrial zone will
produce components for Turkey's biggest solar plant facility, the YEKA project
in Karapinar in the Konya province.
The
factory will have 500 megawatts (MW) of ingot and wafer production capacity,
650 MW of solar cell capacity and 800 MW of solar panel capacity, Turkey's
Energy and Natural Resources Minister said at the opening ceremony.
According
Albayrak in October 2016, the Karapinar solar project will meet the energy
needs of more than 600,000 households.
In
accordance with the rules of the tender, solar components are to be produced
locally and the tender also stipulates that local engineers should constitute
80 percent of employment in the project.
At
the ceremony held at the PV Cell and PV module Factory and Research and
Development Center in Ankara, Albayrak said that the factory that attracted
$500 million in private sector contributions was testament to the secure environment
that Turkey has developed for investments adding that "Turkey is ready for
global competitiveness in the energy sector."
Turkey's
private sector had attracted over $100 billion in 15 years, he said.
With
the help of new energy investment, Turkey will reduce its energy dependency, a
goal that the minister said is highly important for the country having had an
energy expense bill of on average over $55 billion per year for the past 10
years.
"A
few years ago, the installed capacity was around 32 gigawatts (GW), currently
Turkey is close to reaching 85 GW," he said
In
March 2017, the Kalyon-Hanwha consortium won the tender bid for the
construction of the solar facility at a cost of $0.0699 per kilowatt-hour. Now
this new integrated solar production factory will produce the equipment for
this facility.
Also
at the opening ceremony, Prime Minister of Turkey Binali Yildirim said that the
solar production factory would be finished ahead of schedule within 12 months.
The
construction of the photovoltaic equipment production factory was agreed within
21 months following the signing of the tender agreement.
Yildirim
explained that clean energy and the increased deployment of renewable energy is
part of the country's goals to diversify its energy resources.
He
said that over the past few years, the use of clean energy sources and energy
production from these sources, which increased from 20 percent to 32 percent,
was insufficient for a country like Turkey.
"It
is important for Turkey to increase the number of clean energy projects, and
more importantly it is also important to build research and development centers
so Turkish citizens can avail of new energy technologies," he added.
(Anadolu
Agency
)