Turkey has received US $600 (£370m) worth of grants from the international community over the last few weeks. The grants are aimed at financing renewable energy projects in the country – in particular wind energy and geothermal projects.
On 28th May, the World Bank Board of Executive Directors approved US $500m (£308m) from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and US $100m (£62m) from the Clean Technology Fund. The funding will help increase privately owned energy generation from renewable sources within the Turkish market based – renewable energy incentive system.
The World Bank reported “As electricity demand has increased rapidly over the recent years of high economic growth, Turkey faces the twin challenge of ensuring energy security and containing greenhouse gas emissions to mitigate climate change. The Private Sector Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Project builds on the experience of the ongoing Renewable Energy Project. It aims to tap Turkey’s significant renewable energy potential from hydro, wind, solar, biomass, geothermal, and other resources. Moreover, the project includes energy efficiency measures to help reduce waste in energy consumption“.
Turkey is the first country to receive funds from the new Clean Technology Fund – a new US$5.2 billion fund set up by the World Bank. Spain, Australia, Germany, France, Japan, Sweden, United Kingdom, and United States have all signed up to assisting with the fund – which was established to promote scaled up financing for low carbon technologies and projects with a significant potential for long-term Green House Gas emission reduction.
Ulrich Zachau, Turkey Country Director said “Turkey’s Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Project will help enhance energy security, support a clean energy transition, and increase private sector involvement in the development and financing of clean energy and energy efficiency investments”
“The project establishes a financial mechanism through Turkish banks that will assist Turkish entrepreneurs in leveraging their capital to economically develop renewable resources. We are very pleased to be able to support this innovative project, and we are especially happy that this project will be the first to receive low-interest funding from the Clean Technology Fund (CTF) for renewable energy resource development.”
Turkey has been in receipt of a number of smaller grants for renewable energy over the last 5 years. The U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) provided a $259,621 grant to Gurmat Energy Investment and Trade Co. for a geothermal energy plant study at Germencik, Turkey over a year ago. The 40 MW geothermal project is now under construction, using more than $23 million in U.S. exports.
The USTDA also provided a $245,780 grant to the developers of Turkey Soma Wind Energy project. The company wanting to develop the wind energy project – Bilgin Elektrik used the grant to push forward a 30-90MW wind farm in Soma, western Turkey.
