YEKA is the abbreviation of capital letters of “Yenilenebilir Enerji Kaynak Alanları” which means Renewable Energy Resource Zones. RES is the abbreviation of capital letters of “Rüzgar Enerji Santrali” which means Wind Energy Power plant.
Ministry of Energy of Türkiye executes wind tenders for YEKA RES zones since 2017, and so far 2850 MW capacity was tendered in the first three YEKA RES competitions; respectively – 1000 MW in 2017, 1000 MW in 2019, and 850 MW in 2022. Tender eligibility requirements and competition rules were different in all these three tenders. However, the common point for these three tenders, in none of them projects were developed.
Projects were pre-developed in YEKA-4 RES 2024
YEKA-4 RES 2024 Competition was announced on 28 October 2024 for a connection capacity of 1200 MW in five different projects. Different than before in this tender, the announced projects were pre-developed by Ministry and long-term wind measurements were carried out, site coordinates, and even turbine coordinates are defined, and development data was shared with tender participants.
Here are some highlights for this tender rules are given in below table.
| Table 1: Highlights of YEKA 4 RES – 2024 Auction | ||
|---|---|---|
| Topic | Details | Explanation |
| Capacity Tendered | 1200 MW | – 5 different projects |
| Pre-Licence Period (for Electricity Generation) | 24 months | – Starts with issuance of Pre-Licence, usually 6 months after the signature of YEKA Agreement |
| Licence Period (for Electricity Generation) | 49 years | – 49 years after the prelicence period |
| Local Content Requirement (applied to main components, and some sub components) | Minimum 55% | – No local nacelle or other factory obligation. – Supply of selected components should exceed 55% point. – All locally supplied subcomponents should exceed certain localization ratios. |
| Electricity Sales with Market Rates | First 72 months after the signature of YEKA Agreement | – This period starts approximately on 31 March 2025 and lasts 72 months. – This 72 months includes remaining project development activities including permits, design and turbine selection, as well as construction period of wind farm. – For the winner, earlier completion is better to benefit from electricity market rates. |
| Competition Electricity Sales – Feed in Tariff & Contribution Fee | – First bid shall be given between 5.5 to 3.5 USDCents/kWh. – Reverse Auction continues until it reaches 3.5 USDCents/kWh. – After reaching 3.5 USDCents/kWh, auction off for Contribution Fee in USD per MW. Highest Contribution Fee bidder is the winner. | – Feed in tariff (USDCent/kWh) shall continue for 20 years. – This 20-year period starts 72 months after the signature of YEKA Agreement. – No annual escalation for the winning bid.- Contribution Fee is in USD per MW, and paid just after the signature date of YEKA Agreement. [Until 31 March 2025]. Winning bid should pay [Contribution Fee X Project Installed Capacity]. |
Tender Applications
Deadline for YEKA-4 RES 2024 was 21 January 2025, and investors were given around three months of time for preparations. Since Turkish wind market is eager for the developed wind projects, interest from the local investors were high, and 40 different investor groups were applied for the competition. The below table shows number of bidders for each project. Since the investment amount (CAPEX) increases with the capacity, more applicants were seen for smaller capacities. However, even 14 applicants for 410 MW Edirne RES Project were enough for a tough competition.
| Table 2: YEKA 4 RES – 2024 Projects & # of Bids | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Project Name | Province | Installed Capacity | No of Bidders |
| 1 | R24- EDİRNE RES | EDİRNE | 410 MW | 14 |
| 2 | R24- BALKAYA RES | KIRKLARELİ | 340 MW | 16 |
| 3 | R24- SERGEN RES | KIRKLARELİ | 200 MW | 21 |
| 4 | R24- YELLİCE RES | SİVAS | 160 MW | 23 |
| 5 | R24- GÜRÜN RES | SİVAS | 90 MW | 26 |
Tender Results
In all these five projects tenders, first offers for feed in tariff which were provided within the closed envelopes contains minimum tariff of 3,5 USDcents/kwh. Therefore, reverse auction rounds for feed in tariffs were not carried, tenders directly started with auctioning off Contribution Fee per MW after the opening of closed offers.
Tender rounds for all five projects were very competitive in increasing contribution fees, even after reaching to lowest feed-in tariff of 3,5 USDcent/kwh for 20 years without annual escalation. Table 3 shows results of tender with the winning investors, and auction rounds.
| Table 3: YEKA 4 RES – 2024 Results | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Project Name | Province | Installed Capacity | Investor / Winning Bidder | Feed-in-Tariff ($cent/kWh) | Contribution Fee (USD/MW) | Auction Rounds |
| 1 | R24- EDİRNE RES | EDİRNE | 410 MW | ENERJİSA ENERJİ ÜRETİM A.Ş. | 3,50 | $60.000 | 5th Round |
| 2 | R24- BALKAYA RES | KIRKLARELİ | 340 MW | ENERJİSA ENERJİ ÜRETİM A.Ş. | 3,50 | $92.000 | 5th Round |
| 3 | R24- SERGEN RES | KIRKLARELİ | 200 MW | RT ENERJİ TURZ. SAN. VE TİC. A.Ş. | 3,50 | $140.000 | 8th Round |
| 4 | R24- YELLİCE RES | SİVAS | 160 MW | EFOR HOLDİNG A.Ş. | 3,50 | $140.000 | 4th Round |
| 5 | R24- GÜRÜN RES | SİVAS | 90 MW | ADY AKDENİZ RÜZGAR EN. ÜR. A.Ş. | 3,50 | $148.000 | 11th Round |
Next Step for the short term period for YEKA-4 RES 2024
The winning bidder for each project will be invited by the Ministry for the signing of YEKA Agreements, and afterward total contribution fee shall be paid in full amount until 31 March 2025 to EPİIAS which is electricity market operator. Table 4 shows the total contribution fee amount for each project.
| Table 4: YEKA 4 RES – 2024 Contribution Fee to be paid until 31 March 2025 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Project Name | Province | Installed Capacity (MW) | Investor / Winning Bidder | Contribution Fee (USD/MW) | Total Contribution Fee (USD) |
| 1 | R24- EDİRNE RES | EDİRNE | 410 | ENERJİSA ENERJİ ÜRETİM A.Ş. | $60.000 | $24.600.000 |
| 2 | R24- BALKAYA RES | KIRKLARELİ | 340 | ENERJİSA ENERJİ ÜRETİM A.Ş. | $92.000 | $31.280.000 |
| 3 | R24- SERGEN RES | KIRKLARELİ | 200 | RT ENERJİ TURZ. SAN. VE TİC. A.Ş. | $140.000 | $28.000.000 |
| 4 | R24- YELLİCE RES | SİVAS | 160 | EFOR HOLDİNG A.Ş. | $140.000 | $22.400.000 |
| 5 | R24- GÜRÜN RES | SİVAS | 90 | ADY AKDENİZ RÜZGAR EN. ÜR. A.Ş. | $148.000 | $13.320.000 |
About Habib Babacan
Habib Babacan has been working professionally in the Turkish Wind Energy sector since 2008. He continues to provide consultancy services, with his own initiative, Mature Capital, to investors in the fields of Business Development, Project Development, Strategy Formulation and M&A of Projects in the wind business.
More information about Mature Capital, which focuses on Mergers and Acquisitions of Wind Projects (M&A), is available through the links below.
https://www.maturecapital.com.tr
https://www.linkedin.com/company/mature-capital-m/
