Aklease – first leasing company to join Turkey efficiency program TurSEFF

One of the leading leasing companies in the sector of renewable energy, Turkish Aklease, has joined Turkey Sustainable Energy Financing Facility (TurSEFF 3), program designed to finance small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) seeking to improve their energy efficiency and support for the use of renewable energy sources.

As a measure of supporting Turkey’s transition towards a low-carbon economy, the third phase of the TurSEFF credit line was launched over a year ago. The credit line was based on the success of the previous two phases during which EUR 600 million was provided by the EBRD, the European Investment Bank and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation to Turkish partner banks.

Aklaese has become the first Turkish leasing company to join this program which is now in the third phase. The loan worth EUR 25 million aims to help local enterprises to lease the equipment for energy and water efficiency, waste reduction, smaller investments in renewables such as solar photovoltaic, biomass and biogas projects.

This loan is part of a USD 110 million package organized by the Netherlands Development Finance Company (FMO), said EBRD in the statement. Other financing parties include the Green for Growth Fund (GGF) and the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID).

With the loan to Alkaese, the total available under the program has come to EUR 1 billion for investments in efficiency, financing for vendors and producers of qualifying green equipment and small-scale renewable energy investments such as solar photovoltaic, biomass and biogas projects.

There are over 80 leasing companies in Turkey. Aklease is considered one of the biggest.  SMEs make up 90 % of total leasing customers and produce.

To date, Aklease has financed almost 120 MW of solar energy and 60 MW of wind energy investments, said the company’s CEO Senol Altundas, and added that it will continue to finance the renewable energy and energy efficiency investments through TurSEFF funds.

Up to date, close to 1,000 projects have been financed under the TurSEFF program. It is expected that these projects should reduce emissions by more than two million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent per year, which is comparable to taking more than 840,000 cars off the roads. The total energy savings achieved equal the electricity consumed by 3.4 million people in Turkey.

The total installed power capacity represented by these projects is 500 MW. Solar photovoltaic ventures lead the ranking with nearly 300 MW, read the statement.