Siemens Gamesa, a member of the consortium that secured Turkey's 1,000 megawatts (MW) wind power plant project, namely Wind Energy Renewable Energy Resource Areas (YEKA), will build a 70 million euros wind power plant in İzmir's Aliağa district.
The company is getting ready to invest in wind turbines and has finalized its search for plant location, according to Siemens Gamesa officials.
It chose Aliağa Organized Industrial Zone (ALOSBİ) for the plant that will employ about 150 people.
The officials confirmed that Siemens Gamesa bought some 40,000 square meters of land from ALOSBİ. It would start work on the project this month and initiate production in November 2019.
Reports claimed that the company would invest around 70 million euros in the Aliağa plant. Hüseyin Vatansever, chairman of Energy Industrialists' and Businessmen's Association (ENSİA) said Siemens Gamesa's investment in İzmir should not be viewed in terms of employment alone.
"Approximately 3,000 units are used in wind turbine production. About 80 percent of these are supplied by the sub-industry," Vatansever said.
He stressed that they have the opportunity to become a very important supplier in this regard. "This investment will also speed up the construction of the Çandar Port. Turbines will not only be made for Turkey but also for the whole world. Therefore, it will also have an impact on exports," he said.
Vatansever said that with the wind turbine investment, Turkey's value-added product exports would increase further.
Pointing to the importance of working with major companies in the energy sector and learning this business, he said that the government should bring out the issue of the fifth region incentive to domestic producers, especially for the renewable energy sector. He demanded that the contracts should be given not only to large companies but also to their sub-industry.
Eight consortiums, including some of the world's largest turbine manufacturers, participated in the YEKA tender held on Aug. 3, 2017. The
Turkish-German consortium Siemens Gamesa-Türkerler-Kalyon won the tender with the lowest bid at $3.48 per kilowatt-hour (kWh).
The consortium will invest over $1 billion in wind facilities. With the introduction of domestic wind power plants, a minimum of 3 billion kWh of electricity will be generated each year, enough to meet the electricity demand of approximately 1.1 million households.
The $3.48 per kWh price tag is a worldwide record and is expected to decrease Turkey's annual energy imports of nearly $55 billion, reducing energy costs both for the state and households.
In addition, the state is expected to save $270 million annually by using YEKA.
The 1,000 MW YEKA project requires at least 65 percent domestic materials in terms of equipment and technology.
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 bid winners will build wind power plants with a total installed capacity of 1,000 MW, with at least 50 MW in each of these five regions.