Zhongly Talesun, the China-headquartered global solar energy company, announced this week the creation of Talesun Anatolia Solar Energy a new joint venture with Turkish energy firm Ege Trade.
Talesun Anatolia Solar Energy becomes Talesun's second Turkish collaboration after December's creation of Talesun Anadolu Solar Enerji Üretim Anonim Sirketi. Both ventures are intended to increase the company's presence in emerging markets and help Turkey achieve its renewable energy targets, set last year with a target date of 2023 to mark the country's centenary as a modern Republic.
Turkey hopes to source 30% of its power needs from renewable sources by that date, and the countrys Energy Market Regulatory Authority has forecast that installed solar PV capacity will reach 3 GW by 2023 thanks largely to international cooperation with global solar companies.
Chief executive of Ege Trade, Mustafa Kürkan, has revealed that Talesun Anatolia Solar Energy's initial aim is to install 50 MW of solar capacity by 2015, focusing on large-scale installations with a view towards solar panel production, too.
Turkish delight
Talesun joins China's Yingli Solar in investigating the potential of the Turkish solar PV market. Yingli the world's third-largest solar panel producer ventured into Turkey in 2013 and has already had a positive impact, installing the solar panels at Istanbul's Özyegin University and breaking ground on a number of other projects.
Turkey's government, in developing a thirst for solar, has implemented a set of new regulations designed to wean the country off fossil fuel imports and toward the power of the sun. The energy administration has passed a number of solar incentives, one of which is a FIT support scheme for PV projects that are operational before the end of 2015. This scheme is valid for 10 years.
Additionally, since April last year the government has simplified the licensing procedure for PV installations of up to 1 MW (up from 500 KWp previously), and extended the FIT payment eligibility to the same threshold.
"In Turkey, the energy market is currently undergoing a phase of new beginnings, in which increased PV capacity is also of great significance," said Talesun Solar MD, Gregor Albrecht. "The state government also takes account of the contributing economic growth and increasing energy consumption in its policy making."
Energy demand in Turkey is rising by 8% per year as the country's economy grows and its middle class widens. As a non-EU country on the shoulders of both Europe and the Middle East, Turkey has proved to be an attractive market for Chinese companies especially, which are able to operate without trade sanctions or anti-dumping restrictions.
* If you wish to find out more about Turkey's burgeoning PV industry, the PV Power Plants – Turkey Conference, organized by pv magazine‘s founding company, Solarpraxis, promises to be a unique opportunity.
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