Turkey's Biggest Wind Power Plant Begins Operations

---

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Turkey's Enerjisa (Istanbul, Turkey), which is a joint venture between Sabanci Holding (BIST:SAHOL) (Istanbul, Turkey) and E.ON (PINK:EONGY) (Dusseldorf, Germany), has begun operations at the country's biggest wind power plant, which has a 143-megawatt (MW) electricity generation capacity. Enerjisa expects output of 524 gigawatt-hours annually, across 52 turbines of 2.75 MW each, at the Balikesir Wind Power Plant (BARES) in western Turkey.

The European Construction and Development Bank funded the project with a syndicated loan of $175.5 million. In an inauguration ceremony, Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said that the country needed to extend its power generation capacity by two-fold. "We need to diversify the power generation sources with renewables," Yildiz said.

"Enerjisa has invested $3.85 billion for electricity generation since the company was founded in 2011," said Sabanci Holding Chairman Guler Sabanci. "The number will rise to $11 billion until 2015. Enerjisa's investments indicate our reliance on Turkey's electricity market will reach a more competitive structure."

Enerjisa's total wind capacity has grown to 212 MW, with about 2 GW overall installed capacity. The company plans to reach 7.5 GW by 2020.

Turkey's economy is largely dependent on energy imports. The Turkish government paid more than $60 billion last year to fossil-fuel imports that mainly were from Russia and Iran. Turkey is planning to diversify its power production facilities to renewables, from which it aims to generate 30% of its power by 2030.

Enerjisa gave the highest bids for Ayedas and Toroslar, paying about $3 billion in total. For additional information, see March 12, 2013, article - Enerjisa Gives Highest Bids for Toroslar and Ayedas Grid at $3 Billion Total.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, and eight offices outside of North America, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle™, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities.