Turkey’s first indigenous solar panel factory to be established in Ankara
ANKARA
The Turkish-Korean Kalyon-Hanwha consortium on March 20 won the tender bid for the construction of Turkey’s biggest solar power plant set to be built in the Central Anatolian province of Konya’s Karapınar district, with an estimated investment volume of $1.3 billion and the investment volume of the 1,000 megawatt (MW) solar power capacity.
The tender requested locally produced equipment to be used in the establishment of a production factory for photovoltaic equipment and stipulated that local engineers should constitute 80 percent of employment in the project.
Kalyon Holding Energy Group President Murtaza Ata told state-run Anadolu Agency that the factory will be founded in the Ankara Organized Industry Zone.
“Its initial production capacity will be 500 MW. We plan to raise this capacity to 1,000 MW in a gradual manner. Foundation will likely be laid in November for this integrated facility. We plan to start solar panel production by the end of 2018,” he said, as quoted by the agency on Aug. 13.
The factory will cost $450 million, he also said, adding that the initial agreement for the establishment of the factory would be signed with the industrial zone management in the upcoming weeks.
He noted that the facility would be composed of three separate factories: One for the production of ingot and wafer, a second for solar cell production and another one to make solar panels.
“We plan to produce electricity in the first units of our power facility in Karapınar in the first quarter of 2019,” Ata added.
The solar project in Karapınar will meet the energy needs of more than 600,000 households and will create around 1,500 new jobs, according to energy officials.