New bill paves way for floating solar power plants

ANKARA

A bill submitted by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) paves the way for establishing floating photovoltaics (FPV) on natural and artificial lakes as well as the country’s seas.

According to the draft bill, water resources, except for wetlands, shorelines and reservoirs used for drinking water, will be classified as Energy Resource Areas (YEKA), where renewable energy production facilities could be established.

The proposed legislation also allows the General Directorate of State Hydraulic Works (DSİ) and irrigation unions to build power plants to generate power to be used in irrigation activities.

Last year, Türkiye electricity consumption was more than 326 TWh, declining 0.2 percent compared to 2022, according to the data from the Energy Ministry.

The country’s installed energy capacity reached 106,668 MW at the end of December with solar power capturing a 10.6 percent share in total capacity, while wind power’s share was 11.1 percent.

Hydropower plants made up 30 percent of the installed electricity capacity.

The country’s installed renewable energy capacity increased to 59,236 MW.

Solar and wind power accounted for 5.7 percent and 10.4 percent of the electricity production last year.

There were 365 wind power and 10,990 solar power plants in Türkiye as of the end of December.

Türkiye’s target in renewables is creating 5,000 megawatts of installed power every year, including 3,500 megawatts in solar and 1,500 megawatts in wind.

“We want to reach a total new installed capacity of 60,000 megawatts over the next 12 years,” Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said earlier this month.

He also unveiled that Türkiye’s installed electricity capacity last year rose by 2,858 megawatts, with renewables accounting for 99.5 percent of this increase.

Some 7,500 megawatts of renewable capacity will be allocated for industrial consumption this year, Bayraktar also announced last week, noting that authorities are at the final stage of concluding technical work on new capacity allocation.

Floating PV investments have gathered momentum across the world especially after 2018 and global installed capacity reached 6,000 megawatts.

The bill submitted to parliament also allows domestically produced and imported natural gas to be exported to foreign markets as LNG (liquified natural gas).