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Turkey is located in an advantageous position in the Middle East for solar energy. Compared to the rest of the region, insolation values are higher and conditions for solar power generation are comparable to Spain. The government is aiming for at least 3 gigawatts (GW) by 2023. Solar power in Turkey is increasing massively. Although solar panel prices are decreasing but still the generation cost of solar power is high as compare to the other power generation methods. Solar potential is very high in Turkey, especially in South Eastern Anatolia and Mediterranean regions solar energy potential is very high.
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Insolation
Covering one half of one percent of the land area of Turkey with solar panels would be sufficient to generate all of the electricity used.
Policies, laws and incentives
Turkey enacted its second Renewable Energy Law, namely Law No. 6094 Concerning the use of Renewable Energy Resources for the Generation of Electrical Energy, in 2010. Turkish government is also encouraging expansion and the utilization of solar energy for electricity generation. To stimulate investment in renewables, various incentive schemes have been introduced For example, renewable energy plants with an installed capacity of 500 kW or less are exempt from licensing obligations Solar energy sources are covered by this law, which decrees that facilities which generate electricity from renewable energy sources will be granted a renewable energy resources certificate (RER Certificate) which will entitle such facilities to benefit from the incentives provided by the Law. EMRA is the competent authority to grant the RER Certificates.
Systems producing up to 50KW (e.g. residential systems) are more lightly regulated than larger ones.
Systems producing up to 1-megawatt (MW) of energy do not need a license, and plugged into the national grid are eligible for payments of US$0.133 per kilowatt-hour for 10 years.
Systems producing over 1-megawatt (MW) of energy must be licensed, but only if they feed into the grid. Such licences often become mired in the bureaucracy which is meant to ensure the grid can cope. As of May 2015 600MW of these larger installation tenders have been approved. The one off fee per MW varies considerably depending on the result of each tender.
Turkey has a fair feed in tariff. Turkey is already at grid parity for private households and commercial users. In the coming years solar energy will be feasible without any feed-in-tariff mechanism.
Heating and hot water
The main solar energy utilizations in Turkey are the flat-plate collectors in domestic hot water systems. Turkey is one of the leading countries in the world with a total installed capacity of 10 GWth as of 2011 (129 kWth /1,000 inhabitants)
The industry is well developed with high quality manufacturing and export capacity. The number of companies is around 100 and annual manufacturing capacity is 750,000 m²..
Photovoltaics
Photovoltaics (PV) are expected to grow dramatically in the next few years. Chinese companies are investing. Solar power plants are manufactured in Turkey and also a prototype dye-sensitized solar cell production plant is to be set up. In 2015, PV produced nearly 700 TeraJoule.
Concentrated Solar Power
The Greenway CSP Mersin Solar Tower Plant has an installed power of 5 MW constructed at Mersin by Greenway CSP.