Turkey’s wind power sector is expanding faster than any other country’s in Europe. Last year it was ranked the second fastest globally, after Mexico ñ according to a recent report by the World Wind Energy Association ñ having doubled its installed capacity compared to the previous year.

The country has the second best wind conditions in Europe, after the UK, but is only just starting to make the most of them. Its potential, combined with new legislation to encourage development in the sector, is attracting cutting-edge wind technology firms from around the world.

Offshore wind turbine manufacturer, Siemens, is currently developing a huge wind project in «anakkale with local firm Enerjisa. It will be supplying 13 of its giant 101-metre-diameter turbines, which should be generating electricity by this summer. However, construction will not stop there; the joint venture aims to have a 5,000 megawatt capacity by 2015.

‘Turkey is a wind market with massive potential,’ says Per Hornung Pedersen, chief executive officer of German wind turbine producer, Repower. ‘Experts are speaking about volumes of up to 20,000 megawatts, which has barely been tapped so far. Turbines with a [total] generating capacity of almost 1,000 megawatts are already in operation there.’

However, having the right legislation is crucial for encouraging the uptake of wind power. All the current investment taking place is based on the renewables law of 2005, which guaranteed private companies a minimum of five eurocents per kilowatt-hour for the clean energy they produced. Although a big step in the right direction, this law was widely seen as insufficient to attract serious investment in Turkish solar and wind projects. Now, thanks to intense lobbying by green energy firms and environmentalists, a new renewable energy law is to be passed this year by the Turkish parliament. In its draft form at least, it guarantees a price of eight eurocents per kilowatt-hour.

Head of the Parliamentary Energy Commission, Dr Soner Aksoy, describes the new law as revolutionary: ‘It will transform Turkey into a base for investment in renewable energy. It used to be that all the different renewable energy sources were referred to as one but now we have divided them under the headings of Wind, Solar, Wave, Geothermal and Biomass … as each area has different recycling and feasibility features. We also made these categories different in terms of when they could benefit from state stimulus help.’

The Turkish government is aiming for 30 per cent of its energy consumption to be obtained from renewable sources by 2023, the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Turkish republic.

Contact: Elektrik Isleri Et¸t Idaresi
Genel M¸d¸rl¸g¸, Eskisehir Yolu 7 km,
«ankaya, 06520 Ankara, Turkey
Tel : +90 (312) 295 52 70
Website: www​.tureb​.com​.tr