Turkey awards 785 MW of solar capacity in YEKA tender

Turkey’s energy ministry on November 3 concluded solar tenders held under the Renewable Energy Resource Area (YEKA GES-2026) framework. It announced the awarding of 785 megawatts of grid connection capacity across 11 project zones.

Following the opening of the sealed financial proposals, the bidding, as usual, transitioned into a dynamic auction. Final allocations were determined by additional cash contribution fees per MW offered to the state grid by developers. VAT of 20% is added to the contribution fee bids.

To control system costs and spur capital commitment, regulators set a floor price of €0.0325 per kilowatt-hour (€32.5/MWh). As is standard in YEKA tenders, all tariff offers moved down to the regulatory floor across all project sites.

In the first five years after the plants come online, operators will have the right to sell their output to the market. In the following 20 years, they will sell at the tender price.

Table: YEKA GES-2026 tender results. See the full list of Turkey’s YEKA tenders here.

In the first quarter of 2027, Turkey’s energy ministry is planning to hold the YEKA DURES-2026 tender for offshore wind plants.

In September, Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, provided Saudi Arabia’s state companies with a €47.50/MWh price guarantee for 2 gigawatts of solar projects for a period of 30 years, along with additional land allocations and tax reliefs.

The price ceiling on the Day Ahead Market at the Energy Exchange Istanbul (EPIAS) currently stands at Turkish lira (TRY) 4,500/MWh (€80/MWh).