SOLARPRAXIS AG 
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The Turkish solar market offers great opportunities, but is not bustling with business, as evident at Solarpraxis and pv magazine group'sPV Power Plants - Turkey conference. Some 200 industry representatives attended the event in Istanbul.
A Press picture can be found here: ftp://ftp949450:3uWeBumeZyWEbAMe@ftp.solarpraxis.de
Rising conventional energy prices, a huge energy demand, feed-in tariffs at a standard rate of $0.133/kWh and the highest solar potential in Europe are attracting international solar companies to Turkey. The potential for photovoltaics is estimated at around 500 GW. It is expected that until 2023 around 7 to 10 GW PV power will be installed, according to Sener Oktik, president of the Turkish Solar Energy Industry Association (GENSED). In the first licensing round last June, 9 GW of applications for larger projects of more than 1 MW were submitted, far exceeding the 600 MW cap set.
But no license for any of those applied projects over 1 MW has been approved. So far the total installed PV capacity in Turkey is only around 12 MW. It is the non- licensed projects under 1 MW that are the driving factor for the 100 to 200 MW new PV capacity expected to be installed this year - many of them commercial rooftop installations for self consumption. The total pipeline of applications for non-licensed projects is over 357 MW, according to Yalcin Kiroglu from the Unlicensed Electricity Generation Association (LI-DER).
It became clear at the conference, however, that non-licensed solar projects also have to run through different stages of applications and permits on the local and national level. Generally, bureaucracy remains the main barrier for a faster development of the Turkish PV market, as several speakers underlined. Successfully working in Turkey's PV sector demands patience and time, and in particular, local staff or partners with reliable ties to the responsible authorities and good local and legal knowledge.
Land availability for ground mounted systems poses another constraint because solar parks are prohibited from being built on farm land, as Egemen Seymen from CSUN pointed out. Project financing through local banks is also sometimes difficult. Problems also arise in the area of grid connection and grid capacity and the lack of installation experience and quality assurance in the country cause further limitations.
Cautious optimism nevertheless prevailed at the conference. After the teething troubles are overcome and some lessons are learned, entrepreneurs like Mustafa Tiris from T-Dinamik Energy Company expect at least 500 MW of new installed PV-capacity annually in Turkey starting in 2016.
The Program and further information about the event can be found here: http://www.solarpraxis.de/en/conferences/pv-power-plants-turkey/general-information/
Contact
Judith Hübner
Solarpraxis AG
Tel: +49 (0) 30/726 296 - 327
E-Mail: judith.huebner(at)solarpraxis.de
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