Turkish solar reaches 6 GW

Turkey reached a cumulative 5,995 MW of installed solar generation capacity last year, according to statistics published by grid operator TEIAS.

Of Turkey’s total solar capacity, 5,826 MW is represented by ‘unlicensed’ PV systems – installations with a capacity of no more than 1 MW. Licensed projects, awarded in public tenders, supply 169.7 MW.

Solar makes up around 6.5% of Turkey’s power generation capacity, which at the end of the year stood at 91.26 GW.

Last year, the volume of newly deployed PV reached 923 MW, compared to 2.4 GW in 2018. Eren Engur, CEO and founder of Turkish consultancy Icarus Energy told pv magazine around 350 MW of last year’s additions came in the form of unlicensed projects which received extensions to their grid-connection deadlines. The rest was provided by licensed projects and distributed generation.

Engur expects 850-1,150 MW of new solar will be deployed this year and said the Turkish solar market should grow by at least 1 GW annually over the next decade.

Rooftop PV will drive new solar this year, according to the consultant, after new rules for distributed generation were introduced last year. Engur expects anticipated provisions for energy storage will be introduced and predicted a 1 GW solar tender planned under the nation’s Renewable Energy Resources Area Project will be implemented.

A Solar Energy Roadmap published by the Turkish PV association in October said the country could install 38 GW of solar by 2030. That conclusion came after a report published by the Shura Energy Transition Center in May 2018, which predicted solar could pass 20 GW by 2026.