Turkey opens EMEA’s only integrated solar panel plant

Established in Ankara’s Başkent Organized Industrial Zone, the major solar ingot-wafer-module-cell production factory of Kalyon Holding was opened in a ceremony attended by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

The facility will be operated through an investment of US$400mn at a 100,000 sq.m closed area and will employ 1,400 people, Erdoğan announced.

“I believe the facility will take our country to leadership in the solar panel industry,” he said.

The factory is set to manufacture solar panels with a capacity of 500 megawatts (MW) every year. “We are going to prevent millions of dollars’ worth of imports of solar panels and components,” added Erdoğan.

In a speech at the ceremony, Berat Albayrak, Treasury and Finance Minister, expressed his belief that the country will move forward in other areas of technology as well. “Turkey has come to a position in the renewable energy area where it can manufacture technology.”

Fatih Dönmez, Energy and Natural Resources Minister, added that the facility would help prevent almost US$100mn worth of imports each year. “Our factory, which came to life with an investment of US$400mn, will be the world’s only fully integrated solar panel plant operating under one roof,” he said.

Turkey has managed to become ninth in the world and third in Europe among countries that have scaled their installed solar power capacity since it began implementing solar plants in 2014.

Following the commissioning of the plant, the share of solar energy in electricity production in Turkey is set to increase by 25% and the annual emission of 2 million tons of carbon dioxide will be prevented, according to Dönmez.