Turkey provides $410 million for 2 GW solar module factory

Smart Solar Technologies has secured TRY 7.62 billion ($409.9 million) of funding from the Turkish government to set up a 2 GW vertically integrated solar module manufacturing facility in Izmir, Turkey.

According to a document in the Turkish official journal, the solar module manufacturer has four years to build the factory, which will produce everything from silicon ingots to finished panels. The support package also includes value-added tax (VAT) exemptions and custom duty exemptions for imports of raw materials.

Smart Solar Technologies owns and operates a 1.2 GW solar panel factory in Gebze, around 65 km southeast of Istanbul, according to its own website. The facility produces bifacial monocrystalline PERC modules with half-cut cells.

“These incentives provided by the state are not actually a facilitating factor for investment,” Solarbaba's founder, Ates Ugurel, told pv magazine. “If we examine in detail, all incentives are given after the investment is completed and the production facility is opened. But of course, it will provide financial comfort for the investing company in the medium and long term.”

Kalyon Solar Technologies currently runs a 1 GW vertically integrated solar module factory in Turkey. The $400 million vertically integrated fab was inaugurated in August.