Turkey to tender 1,000 megawatts of wind in July

By Nuran Erkul

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey will hold a new tender for 1,000 megawatts capacity wind power at the end of July, Turkey's Energy and Natural Resources Minister Berat Albayrak announced on Wednesday.

The country had already completed a tender for the Konya-Karapinar Renewable Energy Resources Area Project (YEKA), which will enable Turkey to have 1,000 megawatts of solar power.

Albayrak said that a similar tender would be held for wind power on July 27.

"We completed our preparations for the tender specifications and it will soon be published on the Official Gazette. The plant will then require investors to have over 65 percent local production and to have engineers, 80 percent of whom will be employed locally," he said.

Albayrak said that this would be one of the most important steps for Turkey's National Energy Strategy that he had previously announced.

As part of this strategy, he also said that Turkey's second seismic exploration vessel, Oruc Reis, would start operations in the Mediterranean next week.

The vessel will conduct 2-D and 3-D seismic exploration in the Mediterranean while Turkey's first seismic exploration vessel Barbaros Hayrettin Pasa is actively conducting its explorations in the Black Sea.

Barbaros Hayrettin Pasa explored oil and natural gas resources two years ago off the coast of the Cyprus Island, but its activities were interrupted in March 2015 when tensions rose between the Greek Cypriot administration and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus over ownership of the resources.