Kontrolmatik commissions floating solar power plant near Ankara

Kontrolmatik launched production at a floating solar power plant of 1 MW in peak capacity on the Bayındır lake in Ankara province. It is one of the first such facilities in Southeastern Europe.

Following several failed attempts, Turkey now hosts two floating solar power plants. Kontrolmatik Technologies (Kontrolmatik Teknoloji Enerji ve Mühendislik) said it commissioned a system of 992 kW in peak capacity and a 900 kW grid connection.

The facility, one of the first of its kind in the region that Balkan Green Energy News covers, is on the Bayındır reservoir in the municipality of Mamak in Ankara province. The Turkish company claimed it is the country’s first approved on-grid floating solar power plant. It spans 0.9 hectares.

In March, state-owned General Directorate of State Hydraulic Works (DSI) put a 1 MW facility into trial operation on the Keban dam reservoir in Elazığ province in Eastern Anatolia. Together with a photovoltaic unit on land, it powers irrigation pumps.

Kontrolmatik is active in a range of green energy segments including with its production facility for battery storage solutions.

Albania, Romania are most advanced in Balkans in floating PV segment

The floating solar power subsector, popularly also known as floatovoltaics, is gaining momentum in Europe. As for the rest of Southeastern Europe, utility-scale projects are underway in most countries. But only two such units came online so far: in Romania and Albania. In the former, several other large investments are in early stages including by a proposed joint venture between Hidroelectrica and Masdar.

Albania’s state-owned KESH recently hired contractors for a 13 MW floating solar power project.

More work required in legislation

Turkey has pledged administrative support for the technology, drawing interest even from municipal authorities for such investments. Legislation in many other countries is lagging despite projects piling up.

German company Profine Energy proposed to install a floating solar power plant of 500 MW to 800 MW on the Ogosta artificial lake in northwestern Bulgaria. Initially, it considered as much as 1.5 GW. It is the largest project in the region except for a few in Greece that sound unrealistically ambitious.

The advantage of floating PV parks is that they don’t take up land, while they also prevent water evaporation. A study in Brazil showed that they can reduce it by up to 60%. On the other hand, critics point to (not yet precisely determined) environmental risks such as from chemical spillage and excessive algae growth.