The first phase of Turkey's biggest solar plant, the Karapinar Solar Power Plant (SPP), has been finalized with panel installation totaling 271 megawatts of capacity, the Energy and Natural Resources Minister Fatih Donmez said Friday.
Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) Center at the Karapinar plant in Turkey's central Anatolian province of Konya, Donmez said the plant is the result of Turkey's first renewables energy YEKA tender, also known as YEKA GES-1, which garnered much attention from both local and international companies, encouraging Turkey to take further steps in renewable energy.
'Today Turkey ranks 13th globally and seventh in Europe with 7,154 MW of solar capacity. Hopefully, these numbers will increase every year,' he said.
The SCADA facility, the foundation of which has been laid today, marks a milestone in localizing energy technologies in Turkey, Donmez said.
'Our SCADA center will manage and control the plant, while also acting as an information and technology base for the sector and professionals,' he added.
The Karapinar SPP, which is 20% completed, will be fully operational by the end of 2022 but it has already started electricity production.
A Kalyon-Hanwha consortium won the first solar energy YEKA tender bid on March 20, 2017, for the construction of the plant in Karapinar at a cost of $0.0699 per kilowatt-hour. However, Hanwha withdrew from the project and China Electronics Technology Group Corporation (CETC) stepped in to construct the facility.
By Ebru Sengul Cevrioglu
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr