The news that the Turkish government planned to extend the existing Renewable Energies Law to 2013 came as a blow to the sector, which had seen expectations rise after it was revealed that government had prepared a draft of the new law, which included a 60% increase in the feed-in tariff for wind power for example.
However, a representative of the Republic of Turkey Prime Ministry Investment Promotion and Support Agency of Turkey in Spain contacted Renewable Energy Magazine saying the Head of Department of the Turkish electricity system operator, TEIAS, denied any change in course. The Agency upheld a statement that “the Turkish government will go ahead with planned increases in wind and solar tariffs in a renewable energy law this year”.
The Turkish government, however, has not yet made an official comment on this matter, although, according to Bloomberg, the UK representative of the trade body Invest in Turkey informed New Energy Finance in an email that he had been told that "everything to do with the renewable energy law is as planned".
Higher feed-in tariffs
Should the new renewable energy law be enacted as it stands, the current feed-in tariff of €55/MWh will be withdrawn at the end of 2010, and energy producers will be entitled to more succulent feed-in tariffs of €80/MWh for onshore wind and €170/MWh for offshore wind (for photovoltaic solar, the proposed tariff is €250/MWh).
International interest in the Turkish wind market is high: total applications reached an impressive 80 GW. Furthermore, the Turkish Energy Minister, Taner Yýldýz, recently declared that his government intends to establish a 2020 target for wind of 20 GW.
Furthermore, TEIAS reportedly plans to conduct a tender process for awarding new grid connections. The tender will adjudicate licences to wind energy developers that are prepared to accept a higher discount on the feed-in tariff (and fulfil all other conditions). The sector however, reports that the feed-in tariff for wind is already as low as it can be and that no developers will be prepared to accept a discount.
During the last few months, TEIAS has encouraged the formation of wind development consortiums with the specific aim of getting developers to present joint applications and improve the offers they present in future tender processes. This process, which is still underway, has reduced the number of grid connection applications for from 80 GW to less than 30 GW.
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