Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EMRA) President Mustafa Yılmaz stated that the first pre-license process has been completed after record applications to establish a storage wind and solar power plant, and said, “Our Board has 12 storage Wind Power Plants (RES) and Solar Power Plants with an installed power of 744 megawatts in total. (GES). said.
Yılmaz evaluated the latest developments regarding the applications made to establish a storage wind and solar power plant after the electricity storage regulation in the field of renewable energy, which was prepared by EMRA and published in the Official Gazette on November 19, 2022.
Stating that with the storage facilities to be established, renewable energy resources will be utilized at the maximum level and thus, Turkey’s dependence on foreign energy will be reduced, Yılmaz shared the following data regarding the applications:
“Our Board has decided to give pre-license for 12 units of RES and SPP with storage with an installed capacity of 744 megawatts in total. May it be beneficial for our industry and our nation. This figure means that an investment of approximately 1.5 billion dollars will be reflected in the field. We are just at the beginning of the work and this figure will increase exponentially in the coming weeks. We would like to thank everyone, especially our President and the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, who supported us in the realization of this regulation. With these investments, we will achieve a great acceleration in the development of battery technologies as well as the production of wind turbines and solar panels. We will see its significant contribution. The development of domestic battery technologies will also affect the development of the electric vehicle industry. In short, both our nation and our industry will win.”
Underlining that they are still at the beginning of the work, Yılmaz said, “This figure will increase exponentially in the coming weeks. As we have announced before, we will see the reflection of an investment of 40-45 billion dollars on the field in the coming period, considering the current capacity.” he said.
Noting that the investment appetite of the industry for establishing storage facilities is very valuable, Yılmaz said, “We said that our storage arrangement is a groundbreaking arrangement in renewable energy. The investment demand of our sector exceeding 270 billion dollars has confirmed the accuracy of this prediction.” used the phrases.
221 thousand megawatt installed difficulty application in RES and SPP with storage
Following the secondary legislation changes published in the Official Gazette dated November 19, 2022, EMRA started to receive applications within the scope of storage electricity generation. In this context, investors who undertake to establish a storage facility can apply for a pre-license to EMRA, without any competition, to establish wind and solar power plants ‘as much as the storage capacity they will establish’.
Within the scope of the applications for RES and SPP with storage, which started to be received as of November 19, 2022, 4 thousand 369 applications with a total installed capacity of 221 thousand megawatts were made to EMRA. Of these applications, 113 thousand 500 megawatts were RES applications with storage, and 107 thousand 500 megawatts were SPP applications with storage.
The applications, which were determined to be complete until 22 December 2022 after the examinations, were sent to Türkiye Elektrik Üretim AŞ (TEİAŞ) and related distribution companies for connection opinions. The applications that receive a positive connection opinion from these applications are currently sent to the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources for technical evaluation. Thus, an associate license can be granted to applicants whose technical evaluation is deemed appropriate “in case the collateral adequacy is also met”.
The regulation on wind and solar power plants with electricity storage, published in the Official Gazette on November 19, 2022, includes changes such as evaluating the said power plants independently of intermittent resource capacity, creating a connection opinion independent of any capacity allocation competition, and not requiring measurement obligation for wind power plants.