Turkey increases licenses for solar plants

Turkey\'s Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EDPK) has decided to start granting licenses for solar power plants starting in June next year, boosting investments in the sector, said the Istanbul office of Ice, the Italian agency promoting companies abroad, citing a study by the Turkish branch of Deloitte. The country is late compared to Europe in using solar power to support its energy system. The power capacity of plants installed in European countries providing for the sale of energy produced by plants with high fixed costs, such as Germany, Spain and the Czech Republic, has rapidly expanded. The level of incentives has lowered since solar technologies have become cheaper though incentives in Europe have remained significantly higher than in Turkey. Germany and Spain pay 13.5 euro cents per kilowatt-hour and 28.8 euro cents per kilowatt-hour in the Czech Republic. Turkey has said it will pay 10 euro cents per kilowatt-hour, an interesting step for potential investors in solar power plants. The EPDK will grant licxenses by June 2013 for a total value of 600 megawatts which should be raised to 3000 megawatts in 2023.