As he formally opened what is thought to be Europe’s largest solar power plant built on a single site and one of the five largest in the world, President Recep Tayyip Erdoan announced that Türkiye had discovered high-quality petroleum with a daily production capacity of 100,000 barrels.
Turkiye largest solar power plant: The president reminded the audience at the inauguration ceremony that Turkey would no longer be a nation in need of energy resources but rather one that was able to export energy.
He went on to state that Turkey has begun oil production in areas where oil wells were shut down due to assertions that there was no oil there and places that had to be abandoned because of PKK terrorist threats.
Erdoan vowed to remove terrorism from the country’s agenda permanently and pledged to overcome any challenges in the path of Turkey’s energy independence.
The plant in the central province of Konya was built by Kalyon Energy, a subsidiary of one of Turkey’s largest corporations, Kalyon Holding. It has an installed capacity of 1,350 megawatts (MW).
The Kalyon Karapnar Solar Power Plant, which was officially opened with a ceremony that was attended by President Recep Tayyip Erdoan, aims to support Turkey’s efforts to increase the production of renewable energy, which have already been sparked by large-scale solar and wind power tenders.
The facility’s more than 3.2 million solar panels will produce 3 million kilowatt-hours of electricity each year, enough to power 2 million people and avoid the usage of $450 million in resources equivalent to fossil fuels.
The $1 billion facility, which currently generates power, would reduce carbon emissions by 1.5 million tonnes yearly and raise the proportion of solar energy in Turkey’s overall energy production by 20%.
Kalyon Energy’s 50% Stake Sale and YEKA Projects in Turkey
In August of last year, Kalyon Holding and the Abu Dhabi conglomerate International Holding Co (IHC) reached an agreement to sell a 50% stake in Kalyon Energy for around $490 million. The deal also included a wind power project in Ankara, another in the Gaziantep region, and a solar power plant in Karapnar.
The facility was built by Kalyon Energy as a part of the nation’s Renewable Energy Resource Zone (YEKA), a government programme to build renewable facilities in locations with a high concentration of at least one renewable energy source, such wind or solar power.
YEKA projects manufacture equipment and build substantial electricity producing facilities using funding from local investors and/or consortiums.
The facility is different from other large solar parks listed since it is funded by a consortium or group of investors rather than a single investor.
The facility, whose construction began in early 2020, spans a surface area of 20 million square metres and is located in a region with the greatest exposure to the sun.
The facility’s solar panels come from the first integrated solar ingot-wafer-module-cell factory in Turkey, which is located in Ankara and was founded by the Kalyon Solar Energy Technologies Production Company. Production there began in August 2020.
Kalyon Solar Technologies Factory: Turkey’s Push to Expand Renewable Energy Capacity with Integrated Solar Panel Production
The Kalyon Solar Technologies Factory, which Erdoan will officially open in August 2020, is the first fully integrated solar panel production facility to house all phases of solar panel production, including research and development (R&D), under one roof.
With an expenditure of $150–200 million, Kalyon PV’s 1,000 MW annual output capacity will expand from its original 500 MW and be increased to more than 2,000 MW.
The growth of renewable energy in recent years has been mostly driven by YEKA initiatives, both in terms of technology advancement, equipment manufacturing, and electricity generation.
The country’s installed electricity capacity as of April 7 was 104,488 MW, with more than half of the capacity coming from renewable sources.
With a capacity of 11,490 MW, wind is the second-largest renewable source of electricity behind hydropower, which has a capacity of about 31,600 MW. In the same time frame, solar power installations reached 9,820 MW.
The nation’s renewable energy portfolio is anticipated to grow by at least 1,000 MW of wind and solar energy capacity each in 2023.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) projects that Turkey’s capacity for renewable energy will increase by around 64% to 90 gigawatts (GW) over the next five years, with solar and wind power accounting for nearly 75% of this increase.
It will rise to the fourth spot in Europe and among the top 10 global markets for renewable energy thanks to the expansion.
