Bezen & Partners advises Polat Enerji on key Turkish Solar Project

Bezen & Partners has acted for Polat Enerji in relation to its acquisition of the entire share capital of Şua Elektrik Üretim A.Ş. which holds the pre-licence for the 26 MW Cıngıllı Solar Power Plant Project in the central province of Niğde, Turkey.

Polat Enerji, with a net installed capacity of 535 MW and a total installed capacity of 665 MW, generates approximately 2 billion kWh of electricity annually, meeting the electricity demand of 800,000 people and providing around 1.2 million tons of carbon dioxide reduction. Polat Enerji’s shareholders include EDF-EN, a leading renewable energy producer and a subsidiary of the French electric utility EDF, and Canadian PSP Investments, one of Canada’s largest pension investment funds.

“Polat Enerji is one of the largest wind power plant investors in Turkey, and they are diversifying their investment portfolio with solar plant projects. The 26 MW Cıngıllı Solar Power Plant Project is another important milestone in the Turkish solar energy market and we are delighted to have been involved in advising Polat Enerji in this project.” says partner Murat Soylu.

Renewable Energy Resource Zone (YEKA) model

The Turkish government introduced the new Renewable Energy Resource Zone (YEKA) model in 2016 in order to commission large-scale renewable energy projects through utilisation of locally-manufactured components in renewable power plants. The largest-ever solar power auction in Turkey's history took place on 20 March 2017, while a similar tender for 1-GW wind power plants took place in August 2017 with local manufacturing and R&D requirements.

Potential regions for Turkey's first offshore wind power farm have been identified as Saros and Gelibolu in Çanakkale and Kıyıköy in the northwestern Marmara province of Tekirdağ. The tender for the first offshore wind farm as part of Renewable Energy Resource Areas (YEKA) is expected to be held this year.

Hatay's Erzin district in southern Turkey, Niğde's Bor in Central Anatolia and Şanlıurfa's Viranşehir in the southeast have been identified as potential solar Renewable Energy Resource Areas (YEKA) candidates.

About the Bezen & Partners team

The Bezen & Partners team advising on the acquisition process included partner Murat Soylu, senior associate Uğur Sebzeci, senior associate Can Özilhan and associate Miray Yavuz.

In the last 12 months, there has been a strong upturn in Turkey for greenfield solar and wind projects. Bezen & Partners has advised and assisted leading renewable energy companies in the tenders for the 1,000 MW YEKA wind project and the 1,000 MW YEKA solar project and numerous domestic and foreign companies concerning the permitting, implementation and construction of unlicensed wind and solar power plants, including the structuring of post-development acquisitions.