Turkey: Amendment To The Application Procedure For Local Content Bonus Payments

Introduction

The Regulation Amending the Regulation on the Support of Local Content of Renewable Energy Electricity Generation Facilities (the "Regulation") was published in the Official Gazette dated 20 September 2019 and numbered 30894.

The Regulation amends the certification procedure for wind power plants and the possibility for operators to benefit from local content bonus payments on an accelerated basis.

Amendments

Previously, operators were only eligible to benefit from local content bonus payments after completing applicable certification procedures for the relevant turbine components.

Following the amendments introduced by the Regulation, with regard to components of wind power plants which are manufactured for the first time, the applicant is now allowed to apply for local content bonus payments in parallel to its application to obtain the required compliance certificates (such as the type certificate, product certificate or unit verification certificate).

During the accelerated applications for local content bonus payments, the applicant may submit one or more documents that are within the scope of the standard subject to certification (i.e. prototype document, design verification certificate, design-based evaluation certificate, manufacturing conformity certificate, final evaluation certificate, etc.) to the Turkish Standards Institute, in lieu of final certification documents. Additionally, applicants will be required to provide an undertaking in the standard form (set out in Schedule-5/Annex-1 of the Regulation to the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources) which incorporates an obligation to obtain and submit final certification documents within 18 months.

Note that a failure to obtain and submit final certification documents within the applicable time will trigger the obligation to reimburse the relevant local content bonus payments together with interest and, potentially, additional sanctions handed down by the Energy Market Regulatory Authority in accordance with Article 16 of the Energy Market Law.

Conclusion

The Regulation accelerates the timeline for eligibility to local content bonus payments and has thus far been regarded as a welcome development in the wind energy sector.

Article by Banu Bölükemini, İlke Işın Süer, Duru İyem and Ufuk Söğüt

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