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Turkey boosts solar capacity from Japan Energy Fund

Tokyo-based energy ventures Enechange and Looop acquired a joint operation right of a 13 megawatts (MW) solar power plant located in Denizli Province, Turkey. The 10 million US dollars investment will be the first project carried out in the framework of the Japan Energy Fund, established to promote decarbonisation energy investments overseas.

The acquired photovoltaic system is located about 300 kilometres south of Istanbul. The annual power generation of the plant is 22.5 gigawatt hours (GWh), which is equivalent to the annual power supply of about 8,000 Turkish nationals according to the announcement of Enechange.

Enechange expects that the photovoltaic unit will generate long-term stable income by selling electricity to distribution companies in the region at a fixed price of 13.3 US dollar cents per kilowatt-hour for ten years.

The funds for the investment is secured by a joint energy fund, set up by Enechange and Looop with the participation of Hokuriku Electric Power and Daiwa Energy and Infrastructure, that aims to generate a total investment of 100 million US dollars (around 90 million euros) in sustainable assets.

The fund was established to boost investment in renewables in emerging countries as well as energy-related startups with advanced technology in Europe and the United States.

Hasan Murat Mercan, the Turkish ambassador to Japan stressed the importance of projects that contribute to the energy independence of Turkey as 70 per cent of the country’s energy needs are met by imports. He added that Turkey is the fifth largest energy consumer in Europe and therefore will need nearly 125 thousand megawatts of installed capacity by 2023.

Mr Mercan outlined that Turkey aims to increase the ratio of renewable energy resources in total installed capacity to 30 per cent by 2023.

Turkey’s energy demand is growing steadily, but the country remains heavily reliant on coal, oil and gas with 88 per cent of fossil fuels to 12 per cent of renewables in its energy mix according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Solar power makes up around 6.5 per cent of Turkey’s power generation capacity, which at the end of 2019 stood at 91.26 GW).

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