The Niğde-Bor Energy Specialized Industrial Zone will be established on an area of over 2,500 hectares that will include a TL 9 billion ($1.53 billion) power plant.

The Energy and Natural Resources Ministry announced that they will take bids for the energy zone, which will meet the needs of 270,000 households, until Jan. 31, 2019.

The project was prepared by the Niğde Governor's Office in 2015 and approved by the then-Ministry of Science and Technology. Approximately 2,539 hectares of land between the Emen-Badak-Seslikaya villages connected to the Bor district, where a 500-megawatt solar power plant will be installed, was designated as the Niğde-Bor Energy Specialized Industrial Zone.

The energy requirement of 270,000 households will be met with the production of at least 570 million kilowatt-hours of energy per year, contributing approximately TL 200 million to the economy.

With the commissioning of the entire project, the plant will generate a minimum of 2.9 billion kilowatt-hours of energy, contributing approximately TL 1 billion to the economy.

Once fully completed, the plant will generate 2.8 times more energy than Niğde's electricity consumption, meeting the electricity demand of approximately 1.4 million households.

Niğde Gov. Yılmaz Şimşek stressed that the energy specialized industrial zone will contribute greatly to the regional economy.

"This process will continue until the end of 2019, and applications will be received from the investors in the meantime. The firms that will win the tender will invest approximately TL 9 billion in this region and an energy specialized region will be established," Gov. Şimşek said.

He underlined that the area where the plant will be established was an arid pasture and that they cleared the region and paved the way for the project.

Pointing to the importance of the project for Turkey and Niğde as a strategic investment, Şimşek said when the project is realized, domestic, national and environmental-friendly energy will be produced cheaply in line with the target pointed by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. "In this way, our country's dependence on foreign energy and foreign exchange will be reduced. Another benefit of this investment is that it will provide employment for approximately 250,000 people. I hope that the investment will be beneficial to our country, our nation and our province," Şimşek continued. "The Niğde-Bor region is one of the regions with the highest solar energy efficiency. Because the plants to be installed in this region will absorb the solar energy in the best way possible, converting it into electricity. We chose this region because of its high energy efficiency."