General Electric has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Turkish partners Borusan EnBW Enerji, Fina Enerji and Özgül Holding for the development of YEKA wind farm.
Contributing to the renewable energy portfolio of Turkey, the wind YEKA project will see preliminary preparations on financing and project by the companies.
Borusan EnbW Enerji board chairman Agah Ugur, Fina Enerji board chairman Murat Özyegin, Özgül Holding Board chairman Ömer Faruk Özgül and GE CEO Global Growth Organization John Rice, GE EMEA Onshore Wind Energy general manager Cliff Harris, GE Turkey CEO & president Canan M. Özsoy were present at the signing ceremony of the MoU agreement. As per the agreement, companies will work together with the aim of supplying and operating wind sites, equipment, service, local manufacturing, finance and R&D.
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. We are supporting our country's energy targets through this agreement with our valuable partners."
Borusan EnbW Enerji board chairman Agah Ugur said: “The reduction of current account deficit and dependency on energy imports are the main axes of Turkey’s energy policy.
"In this sense, we continue our investments without slowing down with the vision of being a leading energy generation company in the field of wind energy, which is a domestic and renewable energy source and make a great contribution to reach the targets of Turkey’s energy policy.
"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."
Fina Enerji board chairman Murat Özyegin said: “As Fina Enerji Holding, we have managed to become one of the leading investors in the renewable energy sector in Turkey.
"We believe that our experience and Fiba Group’s support behind us will play an important role in this strong partnership and make a significant contribution to the YEKA process, one of the most important pillars of our country's domestic energy policies.
"The YEKA project will enable efficient fields to be put into use in a relatively short time and provide us a unique opportunity to reach our targets in renewable energy.”
Özgül Holding Ömer Faruk Özgül chairman said: "Wind energy plant is different from other renewable energy plants; It is an investment that needs to be evaluated on a coordinate basis (turbine coordinates), not on a project site basis.
"Since the wind power plant will be evaluated on a unit cost basis, the more the installed power is increased, the lower the fixed costs will be.
"For this reason, the greater the allocation of connection capacity for the YEKA project, the investment can be more feasible. In this framework, I believe our cooperation will contribute to Turkey's renewable energy targets."
The cooperation established by GE, Borusan EnBW Enerji, Fina Energy and Özgül Holding offers a structure where each party complements one another in terms of the site, equipment and financing, while building strong teamwork with deep knowledge and strong financials.
Providing wind energy equipment and solutions in 23 sites across Turkey, GE accounts for more than 1 GW in installed wind energy power in Turkey. GE's installed capacity may reach up to 1.2 GW with the projects under construction. Fina Enerji, one of the partners of the consortium has eight operating wind plants with a total capacity of 305 MW. The company continues to work on investments in four new wind plants and plans to put into use additional 200 MW capacity within 24 months.
Borusan EnBW Enerji, another partner in the consortium, stands out with its seven wind energy power plants and its investments in this field. The entire Borusan EnBW product portfolio is based on renewable energy sources, and out of the company's total installed energy power of 406 MW, wind energy accounts for 349 MW.
Providing energy companies with such services as energy project development, project management, engineering solutions and energy portfolio management, Özgül Holding has so far offered turnkey solutions for around 10 wind energy projects. In addition, Özgül Holding works on realization of its own portfolio.