Sabancı Holding investing USD 450 million in wind farms in Turkey

Sabancı Holding aims to lift its power generation capacity to 4.15 GW by 2023 with wind power projects in the pipeline. One of the largest conglomerates in Turkey earmarked USD 450 million for three wind farms with an overall 565 MW.

Three major wind farms in Turkey are under development, Sabancı Holding’s Energy Group President Kıvanç Zaimler revealed. The company plans to bring online the 565 MW in total in Aydın, Çanakkale and Kayseri by 2023, he told AA.

The projects are worth USD 450 million altogether, according to the conglomerate’s top official. Sabancı is also active in banking, insurance, retail and the production of building materials.

In the western Turkish provinces of Aydın and Çanakkale, the company intends to build two facilities of 250 MW each for which it won at the YEKA-2 Renewable Energy Resources Area tender last year. The third unit will be installed in Kayseri in central Anatolia.

Enerjisa Üretim, Enerjisa Enerji are responsible for company’s planned wind farms in Turkey

The new wind farms will boost the electricity production capacity to 4.15 GW in Turkey, Zaimler said. Subsidiaries Enerjisa Üretim and Enerjisa Enerji are developing the projects.

Most investments will be directed into wind and solar power

“We have sustainability and new technologies in focus for our projects and investments. We cover many segments, from electrical chargers to storage,” Zaimler stated and added solar and wind power would account for the majority of investments, pointing to the drop in equipment costs.

The developments in the market offer opportunities for local manufacturers in the renewables sector, he stressed. Power producer Enerjisa Üretim won the tender for Aydın with a bid of USD 45.6 per MWh, while it will sell power from the Çanakkale facility for USD 36.7 per MWh.

Electricity consumption may grow this year

Zaimler said Turkey may still see growth in power consumption this year despite the COVID-19 pandemic and the drop registered for the second quarter, and added it would put the country ahead of developed nations in Europe. Sabancı Holding’s energy businesses boosted their consolidated income year over year in the first nine months, he noted.

Gas power plants will have a significant role in Turkey over the next ten years as storage capacity still can’t handle the rise in renewables, in his view.