Turkey’s energy ministry has completed the tendering process for the construction and operation of five wind plants with a combined installed capacity of 1.2 GW under the YEKA RES-2024 (Renewable Energy Source Areas, Wind Power Plants-2024) call, the ministry said on January 28.

A total of $1.2bn will be invested in building the plants.

Forty companies placed 100 initial bids to participate in the tenders.

Bids of $0.035/kWh won at all the tenders. A $0.035/kWh and $0.055/kWh range was set for the bids. All winning bids came in at the bottom of the range.

Story chart: Results of the YEKA RES-2024 tender.

Since there was more than one bid at the bottom of the range, the bidders placed contribution offers to be paid in advance, starting at $10,000/MW. The column furthest right in the chart shows the winning bids for contributions.

Following the signing of the final contracts, the winners will pay a total of $120mn in contributions to the Renewable Energy Support Mechanism (YEKDEM).

In June, Turkey’s energy watchdog EPDK hiked the price ceiling on the Day Ahead Market at the Energy Exchange Istanbul (EPIAS) to Turkish lira (TRY) 3,000/MWh ($0.084/kWh) from TRY 2,700/MWh in July 2023.

The winners are awarded grid connections for 49 years, with a minimum price set at $0.0495/kWh during the first six years long open market sale period and a guaranteed price set with the winning bids in the auctions for another 20 years.

The sixth year open market phase will begin when the final contracts are signed. The plants are supposed to come online within the next three years.

In the last 23 years of the specified period, the operators of the plants will sell their output on the market.

Enerjisa wins two more

Enerjisa Uretim, a 50:50 JV between Turkey’s Sabanci Holding (SAHOL) and E.ON (Frankfurt/EOAN), won two tenders for the 410-MW R24-Edirne and 340-MW R24-Balkaya plants. Both plants are located in Turkish Thrace.

In 2019, Enerjisa Uretim won YEKA RES-2 (Renewable Energy Source Areas, Wind Power Plants-2) tenders to build wind plants with a combined capacity of 1 GW (250 MW each) in Canakkale, Aydin, Mugla and Balikesir provinces.

The plants are to be gradually launched by 1Q26.

At end-2023, Enerjisa Uretim remained the third largest electricity producer in Turkey with an installed capacity of 3,792 MW, up from 3.7 GW at end-2022.

Newcomers

Antalya-based RT Enerji won the 200-MW Sergen plant tender, located in Turkish Thrace, while Istanbul-based conglomerate Efor Holding won the 160-MW Yellice tender and ADY Akdeniz won the 90-MW Gurun tender.

The Yellice and Gurun plants will be located in central Anatolian Sivas province.

At end-2023, RT was the 49th largest electricity producer and eighth largest wind operator with its combined wind capacity of 393-MW.

800-MW solar tender on February 4?

On January 27, the energy ministry also collected initial bids for the building and operating of six solar plants with a combined capacity of 800 MW under  the YEKA GES-2024 (Renewable Energy Source Areas, Solar Power Plants-2024) round.

A total of 67 companies placed a total of 146 bids, the ministry said on January 28.

Table: The 385-MW Karapinar solar plant to be built in central Anatolian Konya province has attracted a total of nine initial bids.

The date of the auction has not yet been confirmed. On January 28, energy minister Alparslan Bayraktar said that it would happen next week. Previously, the ministry said that it was planning to hold the auction on February 4.

2-GW tender per annum

Turkey plans to hold 2-GW YEKA tenders every year.

At end-November, there were 305 active wind plants in Turkey with a combined capacity of 15-GW, while 298 wind plants with a capacity of 20-GW were pre-licensed.

Meanwhile, there were 51 active solar plants with a combined capacity of 2 GW in addition to 437 plants that were pre-licensed for a combined capacity of 15 GW.

Turkey had a combined licensed capacity of 110-GW while pre-licences have been issued for an additional 38-GW of capacity.

Together with unlicensed plants, Turkey’s combined capacity stood at 115 GW, including 19-GW solar (a 17% share in total) and 13-GW wind (11% share) capacities.

A total of 784 plants with a combined capacity of 18 GW, including 170 wind plants with a combined capacity of 7 GW and 36 solar plants with a combined capacity of 469 MW, were granted permission to benefit from the YEKDEM scheme in 2024, down from 887 plants with a combined capacity of 20 GW, including 196 wind plants with a combined capacity of 8 GW, in 2023.

In January-November 2024, the YEKDEM plants produced 69 GWh of electricity, equivalent to 22% of Turkey’s combined gross production of 316-GWh, while the government paid TRY 221bn under a feed-in-tariff (FiT) programme.

In November, the average YEKDEM price stood at TRY 3.78/kWh ($0.106/kWh) versus a weighted average market price of TRY 2.50/kWh ($0.070/kWh).

In 2025, 755 plants, including 183 wind and 36 solar plants, will benefit from YEKDEM. The EPDK expects the average additional YEKDEM payments (YEKDEM price minus average market price) to come in at TRY 0.48/kWh in 2025.