Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EMRA) said it plans to expedite an auction next year for 2 GW of wind power. The programme was originally due by 2020. Turkey plans to raise wind electricity capacity to 20 GW by 2023, in comparison to little over 4 GW registered at the end of July, Bloomberg Business said in a report. The target is for 30% of all electricity needs to come from renewable energy sources, where 34 GW would be hydropower and 5 GW solar, with geothermal energy and biomass accounting for 1 GW each. Applications for preliminary licenses will be received by the regulator from October 3 to October 7, it said in the Official Gazette.
In late April, EMRA received 14 times more pre-license applications than its allocated capacity of 3 GW for wind power plants. Taner Yıldız, energy minister and the authority’s chief, earlier said Turkey will add 4 GW to electricity production capacity this year. He added 95 percent will be provided through local and renewable resources.
Oğuz Türkyılmaz, head of the Energy Commission of Turkey’s Chamber of Mechanical Engineers, said the country’s wind power potential amounts to 47.8 GW of capacity, in comparison with 12.59 GW in current licenses, Anadolu Agency’s Energy News Terminal reported.