LET 2019 BE A YEAR IN WHICH THE SUN IS APPRECIATED

The Chairman of the Solar Energy Industrialists and Industry Association of Turkey (GENSED), Halil Demirdağ, emphasizing that Turkey put its signature under important successes in the solar energy sector in 2019, shared the prospects and objectives of the sector for 2019. Demirdag, who is the Chairman of the Board of Smart Energy which is one of the leading companies of the sector as an investor and panel producer in the solar energy sector, stated that Turkey will be able to realize much more significant works in this field in 2019.

Demirdağ, underlining that the installed capacity for solar energy of Turkey exceeded the margin of 5 GW in total, including 4.921 MW unlicensed and 82 MW licensed as of 30 November 2018, made the following remark: “This is the success of Turkey with all of its solar energy investors from the large scale to the small scale. The current level indicates that the solar energy capacity of Turkey increased by 125 times within 5 years. This number was at the level of 40 MW in 2014; we exceeded 3 thousand MW in 2017 and 5 thousand MW in 2018. We experienced an increase of power up to 50 percent in 2018. Our Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources set forth the goal of adding installed capacity of 10 thousand MW within 10 years at the wind and solar power plants. We are ready for fulfilling our responsibility from now on as so far today.".

Demirdağ, stating that the solar energy sector is the main one of the sectors which are being localized in the most rapid manner in Turkey, said: “We have recently reached to a localization rate more than 50 percent on the basis of modules and more than 75 percent on the basis of SEPPs. It is a very important achievement to reach to this level in a short time, but we still do not consider these rates sufficient. The more we can increase these rates, the more we will become national and local. There has remained the building of the cell of the panel in order to localization rate in the SEPPs. At the present time, the modules are local, the transformers are local, the disconnectors are local, the steel structures are local and the cables are local. If our government gives assurance to the sector, the sector will localize the cell as well.

For the continuation of the investments and the establishment of more SEPPs in our country, the producer must be supported by creating new capacities. By this means, our way can be paved as the sector and we can continue to carry out high-quality works in the solar energy sector during and after 2019 as well. We request only new capacity, not incentive for purchase (FITs) in 2019. There is the expectation for the increase of the roof investments, the increase of the new capacities and the continuation of YEKA (Renewable Energy Resource Areas) projects in our sector. We desire that more houses and more factories generate their own electricity and even they can sell it to their neighbors in 2019 and that 2019 will be a year in which the Sun is appreciated.”.