The Kayseri Metropolitan Municipality has pioneered investments in wind power for transportation among local authorities in Turkey. The city and province is also building solar parks to power waterworks and sewerage.
Solar panels on the roofs of administrative buildings and schools in Turkey have long become conventional – an easy and affordable way to bring down energy costs. Moreover, hundreds of local authorities are investing in or already operating larger ground-mounted photovoltaic plants that also provide income. The Kayseri Metropolitan Municipality went a major step further, and then even beyond that.
The city and province in central Anatolia has commissioned its own wind park last year.
It is the first of its kind in Turkey. Such investments are rare even in the European Union.
The three turbines of 21 MW in total have generated 45 GWh in the first 12 months of operation. It covered 100% of the needs of all electric rail systems and buses.
Kayseri wins award for first municipal wind power plant in Turkey
Kayseri, which also governs the eponymous province of 1.5 million people, has several solar PV plants as well. The city itself has an estimated population of 1.2 million in 2024.
Kayseri Ulaşım, the municipal transportation company, has implemented the wind farm project. The local authority came in second this year in the Productivity Project Awards in the green public transformation category. The event is organized by the General Directorate for Strategic Research and Productivity of the Ministry of Industry and Technology.
Excess production from the facility, located in Incesu district, is delivered to the national grid. The wind power plant saves 15,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions a year, according to the municipality. It has just ordered 12 electric buses with a length of 12 meters each, to join the local fleet before the end of the year.
Kayseri participates in numerous green energy initiatives on a national level as well.
Solar power for waterworks, sewerage systems
Furthermore, the Kayseri Water and Sewerage Administration (KASKI) General Directorate has just published a tender for a PV plant of 15.6 MW in peak capacity, translating to 13 MW on the grid. The project is financed from a loan provided by the World Bank.
The firm is opening the bids on October 26. KASKI already operates or is building several ground-mounted solar power plants.
