(MENAFN- Trend News Agency) Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that Türkiye
discovered high-quality petroleum with a daily production capacity
of 100,000 barrels, as he officially inaugurated what is said to be
Europe's biggest solar power plant built on a single site and one
of the five largest in the world, trend reports citing daily sabah .
"Türkiye will no longer be a country in need of energy
resources, but will rather be a country capable of energy export,"
the president told the audience attending the inauguration
ceremony.
He continued by saying that Türkiye has started oil production
in regions where oil wells were shut over claims of no oil, and
locations that were forced to be abandoned due to PKK terrorist
threats.
Pledging to overcome all obstacles on the way to Türkiye's
energy independence, Erdogan said Türkiye will erase terrorism off
the country's agenda for good.
Developed by Kalyon Energy, an affiliate of one of Türkiye's top
conglomerates, Kalyon Holding, the plant in the central province of
Konya boasts an installed capacity of 1,350 megawatts (MW).
Launched with a ceremony attended by President Recep Tayyip
Erdogan, the Kalyon Karapınar Solar Power Plant promises to help
Türkiye curb its vast energy imports and back its drive to boost
renewable energy production that has already been propelled by
large-scale solar and wind power tenders.
More than 3.2 million solar panels at the facility are to
generate 3 million kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, enough
to provide power to 2 million people and prevent the use of $450
million of fossil fuel equivalent resources.
The $1 billion plant already produces electricity and will
prevent 1.5 million tons of carbon emissions annually and increase
the share of solar energy in Türkiye's total energy production by
20%.
Kalyon Holding, in August last year, agreed to sell a 50% stake
in Kalyon Energy to the Abu Dhabi conglomerate International
Holding Co (IHC) for about $490 million. The transaction included
the solar power project in Karapınar, in addition to another one in
Gaziantep region and a wind power project in Ankara.
Kalyon Energy developed the plant as part of the country's
Renewable Energy Resource Zone (YEKA), a government initiative to
establish renewable facilities in areas with a high concentration
of at least one renewable energy source, such as wind or solar
power.
YEKA projects use investments from local investors and/or
consortiums to manufacture equipment and construct large-scale
electricity generation facilities.
The facility differs from others listed as large solar parks in
that it is funded by a group of investors or consortiums rather
than a single investor.
The plant, whose installation was launched in early 2020, covers
an area of 20 million square meters and is situated in an area with
the highest solar exposure.
The solar panels in the facility come from Türkiye's first
integrated solar ingot-wafer-module-cell production factory in
Ankara, which was established by Kalyon Solar Energy Technologies
Production Company and started production in August 2020.
Inaugurated in August 2020 by Erdogan, the Kalyon Solar
Technologies Factory marks the first fully integrated solar panel
production center to gather all stages of solar panel production,
including research and development (R&D), under a single
roof.
Kalyon PV's yearly 1,000 MW production capacity was increased
from the initial 500 MW and is planned to be lifted to more than
2,000 MW through a $150 million to $200 million investment.
In recent years, YEKA projects have been the main drivers of
growth in renewable energy, both in terms of technology
development, equipment manufacture and electricity generation.
Türkiye's current renewable capacity accounts for over half of
the country's total installed power capacity, which stood at
104,488 MW by April 7.
After a hydropower capacity of around 31,600 MW, wind is the
second-biggest renewable source of electricity at 11,490 MW. Solar
power installations reached 9,820 MW in the same period.
At least 1,000 MW of wind and solar energy capacity each is
expected to be added to the country's renewable portfolio in
2023.
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), Türkiye is
forecast to see around 64% growth in its renewable energy capacity
to 90 gigawatts (GW) in the next five years, with almost 75% of
this addition being solar and wind.
The growth will help it rank fourth in Europe and among the 10
biggest renewable markets in the world.
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