Turkey's Energy and Natural Resources Ministry named three regions in northwest Turkey, Saros, Kiyikoy and Gallipoli as candidate regions for the country's first offshore wind Renewable Energy Resources Zone (YEKA) project while Hatay on the Mediterranean coast in the country's south, Nigde in Central Anatolia and Sanliurfa in the southeast have become candidates for a solar YEKA project, according to the ministry's announcement at the weekend.
Turkey plans to hold a tender for around 1,000 megawatts for a YEKA offshore wind project this year, which Turkey's Energy and Natural Resources Ministry described as the biggest offshore project in the world.
For this tender, Saros and Gallipoli located in the Marmara Region and Kiyikoy located in the Thrace Region were named the candidate regions.
The solar YEKA tender will see the region of Hatay-Erzin and Sanliurfa-Viransehir in the southeastern region and Nigde-Bor in Central Anatolia become candidate areas.
The General Directorate of Renewable Energy, under the ministry, launched detailed studies to measure the feasibility of the areas. Once the feasibility studies are evaluated, the ministry will choose the regions and tenders will then be held for these selected areas.
The 1,000-megawatt capacity solar tender plans to be held this year.
Turkey's Energy and Natural Resources Minister Berat Albayrak also said that the ministry would instigate battery storage regulations in Turkey as part of the solar YEKA tender.
The announcement of the list of conditions for both tenders is expected by the summer.
Turkey held a 1,000-megawatt solar YEKA tender in 2017 with a winning bid of $6.99 for one megawatt-hour while $3.48 was achieved for 1,000-megawatts in the YEKA wind tender.
The country plans to add 10,000 megawatts of wind and 10,000 megawatts of solar capacity in the coming 10 years.
By Nuran Erkul Kaya
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr