Turkey sets application deadline for offshore wind farm

ISTANBUL (AA) - The Turkish Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources will accept applications for a 1,200-megawatt (MW) offshore wind plant which will be the biggest in the world and the first of its kind in the country till Oct. 23.

According to Thursday's announcement in the Official Gazette, the Renewable Energy General Directorate of the Ministry will start assessing applications the same day and will inform applicants about the date and place of tender. The applicants will be able to form a consortium to attend.

The ceiling price for one megawatt-hour has been set as $8 and applicants will compete for the lowest bid in a reverse auction.

The investor who submits the lowest bid will sign an energy purchase agreement including the first 50 terawatts-hour of electricity production starting from the first commissioning of the plant.

Energy Minister Berat Albayrak said Wednesday that the tender specifications required 60 percent local equipment production and employment of Turkish engineers at a rate of 80 percent.

Saros and Gallipoli located in the Marmara region and Kiyikoy in the Thrace were named the candidate regions for the power plant in March.

Turkey held a 1,000-megawatt solar Renewable Energy Resource Zones (YEKA) tender in 2017 with a winning bid of $6.99 for one megawatt-hour and $3.48 for 1,000-megawatts.

The country plans to increase its wind and solar capacity by 10,000 megawatts each in the coming decade.