Turkey introduces secondary legislation for storage

Turkey's government has introduced secondary legislation establishing the procedures and principles to install storage energy systems.

The new provisions, which have been in force since May 9, when they were published in the country's official journal, are aimed at implementing the primary legislation for the grid connection of energy storage systems that was issued by the Turkish authorities in February 2020.

“According to the regulation, a separate storage facility can be established adjacent to the production facility and consumption facility,” Eren Engur, a board member of the energy storage committee at the Turkish PV association, Günder, told pv magazine. “Distribution companies will be able to establish a storage facility by proving that it is cost-effective.”

Furthermore, Engur explained that storage systems deployed by distribution companies may not be used for power trading, only for grid balancing. “Storage systems can be installed by requiring approval [from] the energy regulator, EMRA … and more than [one] system can be deployed under a supply license,” he added.

Moreover, universities and technology development regions were given the right to establish storage facilities – provided that they have at least 1 MW of installed power – to be used in research and development studies.

With the new rules, the Electricity Network Regulation for storage services was also amended. A further regulation, to provide the technical criteria for the grid services that could be provided, is expected to be issued by the government by September 1.

According to Engur, who cited recent reports on the Turkish storage market, the country has the potential for 16 GWh in the residential segment, 21 GWh in the commercial and industrial sector, and more than 25 GWh in the utility scale business. “Moreover, the government has recently introduced other measures that allow [the inclusion of] storage systems at existing power plants,” he further explained. “Considering we have 7 GW of solar and 9 GW of wind in operation, we can expect a market size of 1 GWh per year within two years.”