Turkish renewable energy sector targeted

Saudi Arabia-based power project developer, ACWA Power, is planning to enter the renewable energy sector in Turkey.

Abid Hussein Malik, Head of ACWA Power’s Turkish operations, announced on Wednesday that the company aims to build a 340MW wind power plant in Turkey.

Energy demand has been growing steadily in the Turkish market by approximately 4-5 per cent annually, providing many investment opportunities.

Last year, Turkey invited bids for 3GW of wind energy capacity. The Energy Market Regulatory Authority received applications from prospective to set up 42GW of wind energy capacity – nearly 14 times the available limit.

The country aims to have 20GW of installed wind energy capacity by 2023, and have also set a target to procure 30 per cent of all its electricity needs from renewable sources by 2023.

The Turkish government is also looking to promote other renewable energy technologies with a target to set up 34 GW of hydro power, 5 GW of solar power, 1 GW of geothermal power, and 1 GW of biomass-based power capacity by 2023.

By massively increasing production of solar power in the south and wind power in the west Turkey could meet its entire predicted 2020 energy demand from renewable sources. 

Some of ACWA Power’s other projects include the Noor-Ourzazate solar complex – the largest concentrated solar plant in the world, located in Morocco.

The company is also operating a 50MW concentrated solar power project in South Africa, and has announced plans to set up 1.5GW of solar and 500MW of wind energy capacity in Egypt.

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