A British renewable energy company is planning to draw about $4 billion (TL 75.11 billion) in direct investment for about 4 gigawatts (GW) of proposed solar-based battery projects in 30 locations across Türkiye, the company’s country manager said.
The plans to develop and attract investments for large-scale projects is proof of the trust in Türkiye’s clean power potential, Tolga Metin, Hive Energy’s Türkiye manager, told Anadolu Agency (AA) on Monday.
Türkiye is forecast to see around 64% growth in its renewable energy capacity to 90 gigawatts in the next five years, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), with almost 75% of this addition stemming from solar and wind energy. The growth will help the country rank fourth in Europe and among the 10 biggest renewable markets in the world.
Some 49% of the capacity growth is expected to stem from solar energy and 24% from wind energy.
As Hive Energy speeds up investment plans in Türkiye with support from the British Chamber of Commerce in Türkiye (BCCT), Hive Energy has applied for solar-based battery projects with capacities ranging from 11 to 230 megawatts (MW) in scale. The applications focus on 19 cities, from Gaziantep in the country’s southeast to Balıkesir in the west. The total capacity of the proposed solar-based battery projects is about four gigawatts.
If the total capacity is granted for pre-license, which is expected to be determined by the first quarter of 2023, the company and its partners will carry out negotiations to attract foreign direct investment to Türkiye.
Türkiye is still highly dependent on imports to meet domestic energy needs, which comes with vulnerabilities such as rising costs that skyrocketed following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. To boost renewable energy production, the country launched large-scale projects and began solar and wind power station tenders.
The country’s installed solar power capacity stood at 9.32 gigawatts as of November last year. It has received record applications for solar and wind-based battery projects since the opening of applications in mid-November last year.
According to an announcement by the Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EDPK) last week, the applications received in just over a month proposed the installation of 164.2 gigawatts, although an allocation of 30 gigawatts will be made.
Applications for solar-based battery projects have reached 72.4 gigawatts, while the figure for wind-based projects stood at 91.8 gigawatts. The total investment value of the applications is estimated to be $230 billion, while $40 billion-$45 billion of this amount is expected to turn into investments related to allocation capacity.
Tolga Metin said that Hive Energy has long-term goals for renewable projects in Türkiye.
"As Hive Energy, we are implementing processes related to the projects. When the process advances to a certain point, we start negotiating with a number of funding and financial institutions. The U.K. is home to various funding agencies, and as Hive Energy has ties to these funding institutions for years, it is quite easy for us to find loans for these projects," he said.
"Once licenses are granted, the building process of the projects will commence," Metin said, adding the company has already started negotiations with some funding and financial institutions.
Hive Energy has a 10.5 megawatts solar power plant in Türkiye’s southeastern province of Adıyaman which generates 18 million kilowatt-hours of electricity per year.
"The capacity of current applications corresponds to 350 times more than our current installed capacity in Türkiye," Metin added.