The Karapinar YEKA project, located in Karapinar, 250 kilometers south of Ankara, the capital of Republic of Turkey, will be the largest solar plant in the region. It will have 1,000 MW AC of installed capacity in order to generate enough clean electricity to power more than 600,000 households. The project is scheduled to commence within 36 months.
The consortium formed by Hanwha Q Cells and Kalyon Enerji Yatirimlari A.S. (Kalyon) will also establish 500 MW of fully integrated PV manufacturing capacity locally in Turkey, which will be operational within 21 months under the Agreement.
“We have made an important step in our renewable energy strategy” said Hon. Berat Albayrak, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources. “With this step, we have successfully completed a tender that we will enable us to develop domestic production of cheaper, better quality electricity powered by best-in-class technology and allow us to export energy to adjacent regions. We are here talking about the biggest single land project of 1,000 MW (AC) installed capacity of clean solar power. This scale of investment will deliver an important message to the world about Turkey and Turkey's energy market.”
Dr. Murtaza Ata, President of Kalyon's Energy Group, added that the project is a big step towards reducing the external energy dependency on which the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources has been focusing over the past year. It will reduce Turkey's external energy dependency while opening opportunities to extend solar business beyond the country’s borders. Turkey has a significant geographical importance due to its close proximity to the Middle East and North Africa, where solar power potential is quite significant.
For additional information:
