As part of the energy road map announced by Energy and Natural Resources Minister Berat Albayrak, who said, "[The ministry] will make Turkey a production hub for renewable energy technologies," Turkey, advanced in solar power, is now focusing on wind energy.
Bids for the second Renewable Energy Resources Areas (YEKA) project were received last week and the world's largest wind turbine producers will compete for the establishment of a 1,000-megawatt (MW) wind power plant. The tender on the wind power plant, the second project in the scope of the YEKA strategy, will be held at the Energy and Natural Resources Ministry headquarters today.
Turbines to be established in 5 regions
Wind turbines will be built in five different regions of Turkey, including Kayseri-Niğde, Sivas, Edirne-Kırklareli-Tekirdağ, Ankara-Çankırı-Kırıkkale and Bilecik-Kütahya-Eskişehir. The winning company will activate a total installed capacity of 1,000 MWs, provided that it installs wind power of at least 50 MWs in each of these five regions.
Nearly a dozen giant companies will compete
Eight giant companies that make up approximately 90 percent of the world's wind energy market will compete by establishing consortiums with local partners. The bidding consortiums include Denmark's Vestas with Enerjisa, U.S.'s General Electric (GE) with Fina Energy, China's Goldwind with Akfen Holding-Beyçelik, Germany's Siemens with Türkerler-Kalyon, German Enercon with Polat Energy and Limak Energy, German Nordex with İklim Electric Investment, MKS Marmara and Zorlu Energy, China's MingYang with İlk Construction and Germany's Senvion Wind Energy Solutions with IC İçtaş Energy.
Enough energy to power 1.1 million homes
The winning consortium will invest over $1 billion in wind facilities. With the introduction of domestic wind power plants, a minimum of 3 billion kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity will be generated each year and the electricity requirements for approximately 1.1 million houses will be met annually. Thanks to the wind facilities to be installed, an average of 1.5 million tons of CO2 emissions will be reduced.
The winning company will also pledge to undertake research and development (R&D) activities to transform Turkey into a technology production center in the field of wind turbines. It will carry out R&D activities with 50 technical staff, with 80 percent of them being Turkish engineers, for a total of five years in at least three fields of wind-and-generator design, material technology and production techniques, as well as software and innovative gear boxes, and will dedicate $5 million to these activities every year. The installation and operation of the plant and the wind power plants, along with the R&D activities, will provide jobs for approximately 3,750 people.
With the YEKA competition, domestic production will also be provided for the first time in the field of technology. According to the tender specifications, the successful bidding company will establish the factory with over $100 million in investments. An average of 300 to 450 domestic wind turbines, with a power of at least 2.3 MWs, will be produced in the factory. On the other hand, the factory where YEKA's domestic wind turbines will be produced will have a production capacity of at least 150 units per year or 400 MWs per year wind turbine in single shift. The installation period of the factory will be 21 months from the date of contract signing. The specifications also stipulate that 65 percent of the wind turbines will be produced with domestic resources. Many of the components that will be needed to achieve this ratio will be supplied from domestic sources or will have to be manufactured locally. This will contribute to the direct and indirect development of several industries.