State supports 234 renewable projects in 2015

Financial backing under the Renewable Energy Resources Support Mechanism (Yekdem) in Turkey was more than 2.5 times bigger than in 2014, according to Energy Market Regulatory Authority’s (EMRA) latest data, Anadolu Agency’s Energy News Terminal reported. Stimulation was approved for 234 facilities.

Companies planning to generate electricity from renewables are eligible to receive funding depending on the project’s specific features. In order to be financed, they have to apply a year in advance to be included in the scheme. Since its start in 2011, a total of 463 energy plants fuelled by renewable sources were granted support.

Hydropower and wind facilities under the scheme are granted 7.3 United States dollar cents per kilowatt-hour. Geothermal gets 10.5 while biomass receives 13.3 cents. Projects employing locally generated equipment get an additional 0.4 to 3.5 cents per kilowatt-hour. The number of projects increased rapidly from 20 in 2011 to 93 in 2014 and surged to 234 last year.

In 2015, hydropower plants were at the top of the list with 126 eligible facilities. The second electricity source to receive the most funding was wind, with 60 approved projects. Biomass followed with 34, while there were 14 geothermal projects. The installed capacity of scheme-backed renewable energy projects totaled 5.42 GW last year, up 3.63 GW on an annual basis.

Total installed capacity in Turkey jumped by 5.22% to 73.15 GW in 2015, where renewable energy made up 7.4% of the total. Electricity generation via renewables under the scheme reached 17.7 million MWh, 6.8% of overall electricity production. Wind-generated the most electricity, over 8.2 million MWh. Hydropower followed with 5.6 million MWh. The highest electricity generation was seen in April and the lowest was in September.