Kalyon Holding Energy Group President Murtaza Ata announced that Turkey's first integrated solar panel production plant within the scope of Karapınar Renewable Energy Resource Areas (YEKA) solar power project will be installed in the Capital City Organized Industrial Zone (OIZ) in Ankara. "The capacity of the plant will be 500 MW at first, but we have devised investment in the plant to enable a capacity increase up to 1000 MW in total," Ata said, noting that they intend to lay the foundations of this integrated factory in November and start panel production by the end of 2018.
Ata said that the company has reached an agreement with Capital OIZ administration in principle for Turkey's first integrated domestic solar panel production facility and research and development (R&D) center, which will be established with an investment of $450 million, adding that the company will also sign a preliminary agreement with the entity for the land of the facility in the coming weeks.
Pointing out that Kalyon Energy Group is investing in an integrated facility, which will consist of three factories -- an ingot/wafer plant, a solar cell production plant and a panel production plant -- Ata noted that the plant will produce solar panels with the world's highest technology, and it will be one of the few important facilities in the world.
"Our partner, Hanwha Q-Cells, fully supports this investment with all its resources and strategic assets. The capacity of the plant will be 500 MW in the first place, but we have planned the plant investment to enable a capacity increase up to 1000 MW in total," Ata said, noting that they intend to lay the foundations of this integrated factory in November and start panel production by the end of 2018.
Ata noted that an R&D facility, in which Turkish engineers will be recruited at 80 percent as well as at least 100 research engineers, would launch operations along with the plant in which almost 1,000 engineers and technicians will be employed. "We will start generating electricity from the first installed units of our plant in the first quarter of 2019, right after the start of production of panels at the end of 2018," Ata added.
Kalyon Holding and South Korean Hanwha Q-Cells Consortium won the 1000 MW Karapınar YEKA solar energy plant tender, 500 MW integrated panel production plant and R&D plant installation tender held by Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources by submitting the best bid at $6.99 cents per kilowatt-hour.
The rate of domestication in panel production is planned as 60 percent in the first year and 70 percent in the second year to make Turkey a production center in renewable energy technologies with this project; it will also be possible to export to the region.