500 Million Dollar Investment in Solar Energy

Emphasizing that 300 million cubic meters of natural gas imports will be prevented annually with the realization of these investments, and that the monetary equivalent of this is 3 billion dollars considering the 20-year purchase process, Minister Bayraktar announced that they will hold the 2025 YEKA competitions until the end of the year.

146 Applications

YEKA GES-2024 Competitions for solar power plants were held at the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources. Legal entities established as joint stock or limited liability companies according to the Turkish Commercial Code and foreign companies with capital company status participated in the competitions. Applications were received on January 28, 2025, and a total of 146 applications were received from 67 local and foreign companies.

6 SPPs in 6 Provinces

In YEKA SPP-2024, a total of 800 MWe of connection capacity in Konya, Karaman, Malatya, Van, Antalya and Kütahya were allocated to investors as a result of the tender competitions. The contest, streamed live on social media, witnessed a great competition.

Covers 20 Years

The companies that win the tender will be able to sell the electricity they produce in the free market for 60 months from the date of signing the contract. The electricity generated for 20 years will then be fed into the transmission system at a price of 3.25 dollars/cent per kilowatt-hour.

Electricity for 600 Thousand Households

Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Alparslan Bayraktar made statements to journalists after the completion of the tenders. Noting that there was intense interest from investors in solar tenders as well as wind tenders, Minister Bayraktar said, “There was a competitive process in which we will make an investment of approximately 500 million dollars and generate 1.5 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity per year, which means that we will meet the electricity needs of 600 thousand households.”

Shows Confidence

Noting that the tenders were realized at an average price of 126 thousand dollars per megawatt in 6 competitions, Bayraktar said: “Our electricity purchase guarantee was 3.25 cents dollars per kilowatt-hour. When you look at today's market prices, it was realized at a price lower than half. All these processes are extremely valuable in terms of showing how great the renewable energy potential of our country is, and in terms of showing the confidence in our country's renewable energy sector, energy sector and our economy.”

2025 Competitions are Next

Explaining that the YEKA tenders for 2025 will be held at least 2 thousand megawatts at the end of the year, Minister Bayraktar said, “With the tender we held today, we are preventing the import of 300 million cubic meters of natural gas per year and this means 150 million dollars per year. When we consider the 20-year purchase period, it means that we are preventing natural gas imports of over 3 billion dollars.”

Investments to Accelerate

Emphasizing that they are working on a reform package that will accelerate the investment processes especially in wind and solar, Bayraktar said, “In this way, we will implement projects that will reduce our country's dependence on foreign energy, contribute to meeting the energy demand and, of course, contribute to our climate targets and emission reduction targets as soon as possible.”

Support for Domestic Production

Stating that they prioritized the production of domestic equipment in these tenders, Bayraktar said: “We held the tenders with a minimum local content requirement of 75 percent in the panel and module. Therefore, the panels to be used here will be panels produced in Türkiye. In this sense, it will contribute to both industry and green employment.”

While the base price of 3.25 dollar-cents per kilowatt-hour, which was previously determined in all competitions, was reduced, the companies that submitted the best bids in the competitions are as follows:

• 40 MW connection capacity Kütahya SPP competition with a contribution share of 162 thousand dollars per MW Çumra Güneş Enerjisi Üretim AŞ. 
• 40 MW connection capacity Antalya SPP competition with a contribution share of 122 thousand dollars per MW Erdem Soft Tekstil AŞ. 
• 60 MW connection capacity Van SPP competition with a contribution share of 270 thousand dollars per MW Chen Güneş Enerjisi LTD. 
• In the 75 MW connection capacity Malatya SPP competition, Özerka Energy Electricity Generation Inc. with a contribution of 232 thousand dollars per MW.
• In Karaman SPP competition with 200 MW connection capacity, Temmuz Güneş Enerji Üretim AŞ with a contribution share of 150 thousand dollars per MW.
• Kalyon YEKA SPP 5 Electricity Generation Co. with a contribution of 67 thousand dollars per MW in Karapınar SPP competition with 385 MW connection capacity.