Turkey

The telecommunications company opened a large data center near the Turkish capital. Turkcell said it wants to improve data security by storing more information on Turkish soil.

The factory, backed by the Turkish government in September, was originally intended to be built with the support of Korean solar manufacturer Hanwha Q Cells. The new partner is China Electronics Technology Group Corporation (CETC). Production is planned to start next year.

Although the Wiki-solar website ranking only gives a snapshot of PV project engineering, procurement and construction contracts outside China, it is nevertheless a useful indicator of the changing shape of the global solar market.

Turkey introduced net metering in May, stoking hopes the scheme could add meaningful volumes of new solar generation capacity. Municipal governments elected in the spring can also boost the program’s success, provided the many layers of authority can work together, that is.

The Turkish Energy Market Regulatory Authority has published draft guidelines for the integration of storage in the energy system. The new provisions are expected to come into force at the beginning of next year.

With the Turkish government having given Kalyon Enerji another three years to build the 500 MW facility it won a tender to construct with former partner Hanwha Q Cells, Ankara has now committed a $333 million “super incentive” to the fab.

Italian industrial group Maccaferri, the parent company of the insolvent EPC contractor, has also filed for insolvency for another three units of its energy business.

While the world’s biggest solar manufacturers are confident there are plenty of alternative markets for a rising volume of panel exports, the message spelled out by first-quarter shipment figures is that protectionism works.

U.S. President Donald Trump has removed Turkey from the list of developing nations that are exempted from Section 201 tariffs on PV cells and modules.

The government has finally issued a net metering scheme for solar systems not exceeding 10 kW of generation capacity – the country’s first attempt to support small scale PV. New rules for larger, unlicensed projects have also been introduced, with the size limit for eligible systems raised to 5 MW.