Wind energy in Turkey: EBRD offers 135 mln euros to construct wind farm

European Bank for Reconstruction & Development (ebrd) announced a 135 million euros loan to Turkish energy company Enerjisa to construct a new wind farm in the country.

This is the EBRD’s second wind farm in Turkey. The loan would be utilised to build Enerjisa Bares WPP, an on-shore independent wind power in Balikesir in western Turkey. Enerjisa Bares WPP wind power plant will comprise of 52 wind turbines and have a generation capacity of 142.5 MW.

The EBRD financing is structured under the bank’s A/B loan scheme, with 100 million euros on EBRD’s account and the rest on the account of commercial banks. Enerjisa CEO Yetik Kadri Mert said the company aims to increase the share of renewable energy sources in generation portfolio, in order to meet the electricity demand of Turkey in the most reliable and environmentally-friendly manner.

Enerjisa, jointly owned by Haci Omer Sabanci Holding and Verbund International is the leading privately-owned Turkish energy company active in electricity generation, trading, wholesale and distribution. Enerjisa Bares to complete in second half of this year, will become Turkey’s largest wind farm to date, increasing Turkey’s current installed wind power generation capacity of around 1.8GW by approximately 8%.

Turkey is the sixth largest electricity market in Europe, and one of the fastest growing globally. The country is trying to diversify its dependence on imported fuel.

Wind energy in Turkey

1998: 9 MW (- %)
1999: 9 MW (- %)
2000: 19 MW (+111.2 %)
2001: 19 MW (- %)
2002: 19 MW (- %)
2003: 21 MW (+10.6 %)
2004: 21 MW (- %)
2005: 20 MW (-4.7 %)
2006: 65 MW (+225 %)
2007: 207 MW (+218.5 %)
2008: 333 MW (+60.9 %)
2009: 801 MW (+140.6 %)
2010: 1,329 MW (+66 %)
2011: 1,799 MW (+35.4 %)

By José Santamarta, www.ebrd.com/about/index.htm