General Electric (GE) and three Turkish firms have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to jointly finance and execute a wind power project in Turkey.
The local firms Borusan EnBW Enerji, Fina Enerji and Özgül alongside GE will invest $1.3bn to develop the wind project, reported by Daily Sabah.
GE will invest $350m on its part to develop the project, which is being touted to be the largest wind project in the country’s renewable energy sector.
GE MENAT onshore wind energy general manager Ruhan Temeltas said: “The YEKA Project, which will diversify Turkey's energy portfolio, is thus critical for Turkey to achieve its goals in renewable energy industry.
“At GE, we have been maintaining investments and collaborations in Turkey with 2,000 employees for the past seven decades, and together with all our teams, we are ready to tap into our knowledge and expertise of wind energy to contribute to our country's development and achievement of targets.”
Out of the total investment from the consortium, $1.2bn will be allocated to build the YEKA wind power plant while the remainder amount will be used on a wind turbine plant.
Slated to be operational by 2021, the wind power project is expected to cover the power needs of five Turkish cities besides helping the country save $277m each year on its natural gas imports.
Borusan EnBW Enerji board chairman Agah Ugur said: “We think that YEKA will become an important development platform for large-scale projects through sectoral collaborations. Strategically, we believe that we will create a synergy in this area by combining our company’s renewable energy experience and knowledge with the competencies of our partners."
As per the agreement, the four companies will jointly operate the wind sites, provide service, local manufacturing capacity, research and development services, along with the necessary equipment for the project.
Image: GE, Borusan EnBW Enerji, Fina Enerji and Özgül signed a MoU for YEKA in Turkey. Photo: courtesy of General Electric.