Turkey, Saudi Arabia Sign Major Solar Power Deal

Saudi Arabia will support Turkey in developing solar power plants capable of supplying electricity to more than two million homes, following the signing of a new energy cooperation deal on Friday. The agreement was formalised during a ceremony at an Ottoman-era palace along the Bosphorus in Istanbul. 

It builds on a $2 billion intergovernmental energy pact concluded during Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s visit to Riyadh on February 3.

Under the latest agreement, Saudi energy company ACWA Power will construct two solar power plants in Turkey’s central provinces of Sivas and Karaman. The facilities will have a combined installed capacity of 2,000 megawatts, enough to meet the electricity demand of about 2.1 million households, officials said.

Turkey’s Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar described the initiative as one of the largest domestic and foreign investments ever made in the country’s energy sector, adding that the deal would enable Turkey to procure electricity at the lowest rate recorded so far.

Bayraktar said Turkey is undergoing what he called an energy transformation, noting that 62 per cent of newly installed electricity capacity last year came from renewable sources. 

He explained that the country’s solar and wind capacity has grown from almost nothing to more than 40,000 megawatts, while emphasising that the renewable potential remains significantly higher.

“We have increased our installed capacity in solar and wind energy from almost zero to over 40,000 megawatts today. We consistently emphasise that our country has much greater potential in renewable energy.” 

By 2035, Turkey plans to expand its solar and wind capacity to 120,000 megawatts.