Turkey’s energy ministry has completed the tendering process for the construction and operation of six solar plants with a combined installed capacity of 800 megawatts under the YEKA GES-2024 (Renewable Energy Source Areas, Solar Power Plants-2024) round, the ministry said on February 4.

A total of $500mn will be invested in building the plants. 

Sixty-seven companies placed 146 initial bids. Bids of $0.0325/kWh won at all the tenders.

A $0.0325/kWh and $0.055/kWh range was set for the bids. All winning bids came in at the bottom of the range.

Since there was more than one bid at the bottom of the range, the bidders placed contribution offers to be paid in advance.

Following the signing of the final contracts, the winners will pay a total of $101mn in contributions to the Renewable Energy Support Mechanism (YEKDEM).
 

	Tender	Plant	Capacity (MW)	Best Bidder	Contribution	kWh
Jan 27, 2025	YEKA GES-2024	6 plants	800	-	$0.126/MWh	$0.0325
		G24-Karapinar GES (Konya)	385	Kalyon Yeka Ges 5 Elektrik Uretim	$26	$0.0325
		G24-Karaman GES	200	Temmuz Gunes Enerji Uretim	$30	$0.0325
		G24-Malatya GES	75	Ozerka Enerji	$17	$0.0325
		G24-Van GES	60	Chen Gunes Enerjisi	$16	$0.0325
		G24-Antalya GES	40	Erdem Soft Tekstil	$5	$0.0325
		G24-Kutahya GES	40	Cumra Gunes Enerjisi	$6	$0.0325

Table: YEKA GES-2024 tenders.

Price

In June last year, 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 will be awarded grid connections for 49 years, with a minimum price set at $0.0495/kWh during the first five-year-long open market sale period and a guaranteed price that will be set in line with the winning bids in the auctions for another 20 years.

The five-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 24 years of the specified period, the operators of the plants will sell their output on the market.

Kalyon wins again

Istanbul-based Kalyon Holding, owned by Cemal Kalyoncu, won the tender for the biggest plant, namely the 385-MW G24-Karapinar GES plant that will be built in Konya province.

Kalyon will pay $67,000/MW ($26mn in total) in contributions.

As of end-2023, Kalyon Enerji, a 50-50 JV between Kalyon Holding and International Holding Company PJSC (Abu Dhabi/IHC), was Turkey’s largest solar power producer with an installed capacity of 1 GW.

In 2017, Kalyon Enerji won the YEKA GES-1 tender. It has built the 1.35 GW Karapinar solar plant (that reached full capacity in 2024) with China Electronics Technology Group Corporation (CETC) in Konya province.

Also in 2017, a consortium set by Kalyon, Siemens Gamesa (a unit of Munich-based Siemens (Frankfurt/SIE) AG) and Ankara-based conglomerate Turkerler Holding won the YEKA RES-1 tender to build six plants with a combined capacity of 1 GW.

In 2021, Kalyon won three plants in Gaziantep province with a combined capacity of 50-MW in the YEKA GES-3 round.

In 2022, the company won four more plants with a combined capacity of 250-MW in the YEKA GES-4 round.

Also in 2022, Kalyon won six plants with a combined capacity of 260-MW in the YEKA RES-3 round.

In total, Kalyon has so far won 1.65 GW of solar and 1.26 GW of wind capacity in YEKA tenders. (See the full list of Kalyon’s YEKA plants here.)

Kalyon also has hydro plants and a liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility. 

Chinese company among newcomers

Temmuz Gunes Enerji Uretim won the 200-MW Karaman GES tender with its $0.15mn/MW ($30mn in total) bid.

Ankara-based Ozerka Enerji Elektrik Uretim won the 75-MW Malatya GES tender with its $0.232mn ($17mn in total) bid.

Chen Gunes Enerjisi, a unit of Istanbul-based HT Solar (launched in 2016 by Shanghai-based HT-SAAE), won the 60-MW Van GES tender with its $0.27mn ($16mn in total) bid.

Gaziantep-based Erdem Soft Tekstil won the 40-MW Antalya GES tender with its $0.122mn ($5mn in total) bid.

Cumra Gunes Enerjisi Uretim won the 40-MW Kutahya GES tender with its $0.162mn ($6mn in total) bid.

​​2-GW tender each year

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

In January, the energy ministry 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.

As a result, the 2024 tenders are now concluded.

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 of solar (a 17% share in total) and 13 GW of 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.