The governments of Turkey and Saudi Arabia have signed a 5GW renewables agreement to develop power plants in the former country.
Under the agreement, the Turkish government aims to have Saudi Arabian companies build solar PV and wind projects across the country.
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This will start with a first phase of 2GW solar PV portfolio in the central province of Sivas and the southern province of Karaman.
“We consider these investments, which are among the most important examples of direct foreign investment in our energy sector, to be entirely financed through external financing,” said Alparslan Bayraktar, Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
Bayraktar added that international financial institutions will also participate in the financing of the projects through loans. According to the Energy Minister, the 2GW solar portfolio will have an estimated investment of nearly US$2 billion.
Electricity prices for the solar plants have been set at €1,995 cents per kWh in the Karaman province, while electricity prices for projects in Sivas have been set at €2,345 cents per kWh.
Moreover, the solar power plants in the first phase will use 50% of domestic content, in a move to boost Turkey’s own solar manufacturing industry. Last year, the country secured US$2.5 billion in solar cell investments from four Turkish companies and Chinese solar manufacturer Astronergy, which at the time said it would also establish a TOPCon research and development facility in the central southern province of Adana.
This agreement will boost the country’s renewable energy growth and contribute towards Turkey’s target to reach 120GW of installed solar PV and wind capacity by 2035. In 2025 alone, Turkey added 4.5GW of solar PV and had nearly 25GW of operational capacity cumulatively, according to data from Turkish transmission system operator TEIAS.
