What is the meaning of the recent law proposal in the Turkish Parliament regarding licenses for wind and solar power plants and energy storage facilities?
A law proposal was recently approved by the Planning and Budget Commission of the Turkish Parliament. The proposal aims to grant licenses for wind and solar power plants and energy storage facilities to investors without competition. The main proponent of the proposal, AK Party Ankara Deputy Orhan Yegin, explained that the energy produced in these facilities would be covered by the Renewable Energy Support Mechanism (YEKDEM) if the price of the energy falls below the market price. He also stated that banks, which provide loans to build these facilities, value YEKDEM, and therefore this mechanism should be authorized to cover the difference in case the energy price drops below the market price.
The proposal is included in the “Law Proposal on Amending Some Laws and the Law Decree No. 375 regarding State Officials” and appears as the 49th article. The approved article states that legal entities committed to building energy storage facilities will be granted preliminary licenses for wind and/or solar power plants, up to the installed capacity of the committed storage facility. The fourth paragraph of Article 7 of the Electricity Market Law will not apply to these facilities. The Ministry will regulate the terms and conditions for the technical evaluation of pre-license applications based on geothermal and biomass energy through a directive. The Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EMRA) will regulate the procedures and principles related to the issuance and amendment of pre-licenses and licenses, the deposit of a guarantee in case of non-fulfillment of obligations, and the supply of electricity energy to the system through the storage facility for the facilities that will be established within the scope of this paragraph. The article further specifies that the facilities established within the scope of this article can benefit from the provisions of Article 6 of Law No. 5346.
