Turkey plans to hold four 250-megawatt (MW) Renewable Energy Resources Zones (YEKA) wind energy tenders for plants in Balıkesir, Çanakkale, Aydın and Muğla with an investment volume of around $1 billion, according to the Energy and Natural Resources Ministry.
The total 1,000 MW offered, which will be held in reverse auctions and is scheduled for realization by the end of this year, will be Turkey's second YEKA project. However, the ceiling price per kilowatt-hour has not yet been determined.
The tender stipulates that the winner in one of the four regions will have to construct at least 170 MW while not exceeding a maximum of 325 MW.
The draft specifies that the turbines used in the construction of the power plant need to have at least 46 percent local production. In addition, each turbine should have at least 3 megawatts of capacity.
The tender winner will sign a 15-year purchase agreement with the ministry under a power plant license that will run for 49 years.
Energy and Natural Resources Minister Fatih Dönmez announced in July that Turkey would hold annual wind and solar tenders each offering 1,000 megawatts of capacity.
The tender for the first YEKA project of 1,000 MW was held last year in August, creating an investment volume of $1 billion. Eight consortia, including some of the world's largest turbine manufacturers, participated in the tender.
The tender resulted in a world record feed-in-tariff at $3.48 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) offered by Siemens-Türkerler-Kalyon consortium. The total capacity will be installed in Sivas, Edirne, Kırklareli and Eskişehir.
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 project is expected to decrease Turkey's annual energy imports of nearly $55 billion, reducing energy costs both for the state and households.
Applicants for participation in Turkey's first offshore YEKA tender need to apply by the deadline of Oct. 23
.
In total 1,200 megawatts of capacity will be offered for the offshore wind plants, which will be located in Kırklareli, Tekirdağ, Edirne provinces in the Thrace region of Turkey. The total investment volume is expected to exceed $3 billion.
