Solar plant incentives low

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

Turkey’s ambitious incentives are relatively low for solar plant investments compared with Germany, Spain, a report says.

The Energy Market Regulatory Authority’s (EPDK) decision to begin accepting license applications for solar power plants as of June 2013 will boost solar energy investments in Turkey, according to a report from Deloitte Turkey. 

The country still lags behind major European economies in its support for solar energy facilities, however, the report, titled “Sunny Days in Renewable Energy,” said.

The total installed capacity of solar energy plants in European countries that guarantee the sale of the plants’ electricity output at high fixed prices, such as Germany, Spain and the Czech Republic, has expanded rapidly. The levels of incentives have been lowered as solar technologies have become cheaper in those countries. But even at the lower levels, incentives are still much higher in those countries than in Turkey. 

Germany and Spain pay 13.5 euro cents per kilowatt hour, while the figure rises to 28.8 euro cents per kilowatt hour in the Czech Republic. Turkey has pledged to pay 10 euro cents per kilowatt hour.

This makes it even more vital for investors to conduct a realistic feasibility study for any solar power investments. There are lessons to be learned from wind power plant tenders, says Sibel Çetinkaya, a partner at Deloitte Turkey who oversees the energy, natural resources and construction industries. 
“Wind power plant investments have been harder to achieve, because feasibility studies for many investment projects in this field have suggested higher contribution margins than are actually feasible,” she said, adding that investors in the solar power industry should carve out their offers based on realistic analyses. 

The EPDK will grant licenses for a total of 600 megawatts worth of projects in June 2013, an amount estimated to grow to 3,000 megawatts by 2023, according to the report.