Turkey to boost clean energy with additional funding

İZMİR - Anadolu Agency

The Industrial Development Bank of Turkey (TSKB) has committed to fund around $3.5 billion out of a total of $9.1 billion to initiate over 5 gigawatts of clean energy installed capacity in Turkey, a bank representative said on May 22.        

At a World Bank workshop for the International Geothermal Conference (IGC), Bahadir Kocaker, the manager of TSKB’s Development Finance Institutions Department, said the bank allows funding for 12 different themes in the country. 

He explained that among energy-related themes, energy efficiency, renewable energy and resource efficiency were the main areas of concern.        

Kocaker said TSKB started providing funding for renewable energy 12 years ago, adding that 227 renewable energy projects were being planned with the help of the bank.   
   
“Total generation capacity is to reach over 5 gigawatts, which is 15 percent of Turkey’s clean energy capacity,” he said.        

TSKB is one of the funders for the country’s geothermal development project, which its goal is to encourage private sector investments to develop the geothermal energy sector in the country.    
    
“The program has two dimensions. The first component is a risk-sharing mechanism of exploratory drilling phases, while the second component provides a total of $250 million loan facility,” he said.        

He said that no more than 60 percent of the proceeds of the loan - around $150 million - would be allocated to sub-projects that have carbon dioxide emissions of more than 583 grams per kilowatt-hours.     
   
The conference, organized by the World Bank and Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP), started on May 22 and will run for three days.