In collaboration with Renewable Energy World, we held the second of our 'Doing Business In' series of webinars on 13 January focusing on the Turkish market. Over 340 people from 55 countries registered, demonstrating that Turkey is very much on the radar of the wind industry. TWEA President, Mustafa Ataseven, gave the latest figures and projections coming out of Turkey, as well as shared with the audience some useful insights into understanding how the wind market works, and what challenges one is likely to face when setting up business there.
Turkey added 804MW wind capacity in 2014, and there are plans for 1GW or more per year over the next 5 years, with a government target of reaching 20GW by 2023. Currently the country has 1200MW under construction and a further 4.8GW in pre-construction phase.
The current feed-in-tariff starts at $US 0.073/kWh but can be increased by up to $US 0.037 through the use of varying degrees of local content...and yes, that's right the FIT is paid in $US.
There are challenges, of course: high on the list is the long lead time - from the planning stages to an operational wind farm can take between 8-9 years. Permitting processes are long and the Turkish Wind Energy Association is working with the government and relevant authorities to reduce this.
For those of you who were unable to join the webinar, it can be viewed online in the course of today at https://www.gwec.net/dbi-turkey/. The presentations are also available upon request.
Better yet, join us in Istanbul at the end of March for the Intercontinental Wind Power Congress where we will hear in more depth about what lies ahead for Turkey and the surrounding regions. For more information: http://iwpc2015.org
