The following is a look back at the market for wind energy in 2010 and describes the outlooks and targets set at the time. The Turkish government introduced an Electricity Market Law in 2011 to liberalise the market.
Support for wind was not provided until May 2005 when the Renewable Energy Resources for the Generation of Electrical Energy law was passed. This introduced tariff support for all renewables. In May 2007 a revision of the law increased the tariff to EUR 0.05 to EUR 0.055 per kWh until 2017. This is low by international standards, but wind power producers are free to sell to the national power pool or provide power directly, in both situations the prices are usually better than the guaranteed price. The average market price for electricity is EUR 0.07 to EUR 0.08 per kWh.
A number of other policy measures include an obligation for the national grid company to provide connections, improved transmission links to the EU and a lifting of restrictions on foreign investment.
Since Turkey signed on to comply with the Kyoto protocol, wind turbine owners can augment their income by selling their carbon emission reduction certificates under the UN’s Clean Development Mechanism.
In recent years restrictions on foreign investment in Turkey’s power sector have been lifted. The national transmission company must connected all renewable projects to the grid and improve transmission links with the EU.
Small scale projects (< 500kW) don’t need to receive a license from the Turkish Energy Market Regulatory Agency (EMRA).
In 2010 it was expected that feed-in tariffs for wind will be set at EUR 0.08 per kWh. As this is roughly the same as the market price for electricity, it alone will not boost development of the sector. The feed-in tariff was actually revised to USD 0.073 per kWh, which roughly equates to EUR 0.052 per kWh.
To promote locally manufacturing the government amended the Renewable Energy Law to include a top-up to the feed-in tariff based on the percentage of local content, up to USD 0.037 per kWh (EUR 0.0261 per kWh).
Companies such as GE, which is planning to manufacture turbine locally, and domestic manufacturers.
