A bill proposing incentives for electricity storage facility investments was approved without changes during the General Assembly meetings of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey on July 1st, 2022.

Thanks to the approved amendment, energy investors committing to make electricity storage facility investments will be granted pre-license rights without the need to participate in a competition for new wind and/or solar energy investments of the same capacity.

Additionally, investors adding storage facilities to existing power plants will be granted additional capacity rights equal to the capacity of the facility.

These investments will also be eligible for support under the Renewable Energy Resource Support Mechanism as per the Law on the Use of Renewable Energy Sources for Electricity Production numbered 5346.

Procedures and principles related to the implementation will be determined by the Energy Market Regulatory Authority through a regulation to be issued.

The first signatory of the bill, AK Party Ankara Deputy Orhan Yegin, stated during the deliberations of the bill in the TBMM Planning and Budget Committee that the aim of the proposal was to incentivize electricity storage facility investments and that if the price of energy produced in these facilities falls below the market price, the difference will be covered under the Renewable Energy Resource Support Mechanism.

The paragraphs to be added to Article 7 of the Electricity Market Law numbered 6446 are as follows:

(10) Legal entities committed to establishing electricity storage facilities shall be granted a pre-license by the Authority for the establishment of wind and/or solar energy-based electricity generation facilities up to the installed capacity of the electricity storage facility they have committed to establish. The provisions of the fourth paragraph of Article 7 of the Law shall not apply to such production facilities. Procedures and principles related to the establishment of such facilities, including pre-license and license conditions, amendments and cancellations, forfeiture of the security deposit in case of failure to fulfill obligations, and the transfer of electricity energy produced under this paragraph through the storage facility to the system, shall be regulated by the Authority through a regulation. Such facilities established within the scope of this paragraph may benefit from the provisions of Article 6 of Law numbered 5346.

(11) Legal entities holding wind and/or solar energy-based electricity generation licenses committing to establish electricity storage facilities, partially or completely operating, shall be permitted to increase their capacity up to the installed capacity of the electricity storage facility they have committed to establish, provided that they do not exceed the areas determined in their licenses, do not exceed the installed capacity specified in their licenses during operation, and have a positive connection opinion from TEIAS and/or the relevant distribution company. The provisions of the first sentence of the second paragraph of Article 6/C of Law numbered 5346 shall not apply to such capacity increases. Procedures and principles related to the implementation, including the transfer of electricity energy produced within this scope through the storage facility to the system, shall be regulated by the Authority through a regulation.