Eight international development and commercial lenders have signed letters of support for the financing of two 1,000-megawatt solar power plants in Sivas and Taşeli that Saudi Arabia’s ACWA is developing in Türkiye, Anadolu Agency (AA), İhlas News Agency (İHA) and ANKA reported on Wednesday.
The signing took place in Antalya on the sidelines of the COP31 climate conference, attended by Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar and Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman Al Saud, according to AA and İHA.
The eight lenders
AA and İHA named the signatories as the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), Germany’s DEG, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), Société Générale and Standard Chartered. In his remarks Bayraktar referred to financing signatures with nine institutions, both agencies reported, while their lists contain eight.
2,000 MW, operating from 2029
The two plants, with a combined 2,000 MW, are planned to start operating in 2029 with an investment of about 1.6 billion euros, AA, İHA and ANKA reported. The three agencies said the plants are expected to supply electricity to 1.3 million households and avoid around 1.65 million tonnes of carbon emissions a year.
They form the first phase of a 5,000 MW renewable energy package agreed between Türkiye and Saudi Arabia. The Energy Ministry said when the intergovernmental agreement was signed in Riyadh on 3 February that the first phase would be split equally between Sivas and the Taşeli area of Karaman province.
According to AA and İHA, Bayraktar said the remaining 3,000 MW could combine wind and solar, possibly with storage and transmission lines, and put the value of the whole package at around 5-6 billion dollars.
Renewables target
Bayraktar also said Türkiye aims to reach 175,000 MW of wind and solar capacity by 2040, which would require close to 9,000 MW of new capacity a year, AA and İHA reported. The 2040 goal is part of the Milli Enerji 2040 plan the minister presented earlier this month; the latest state solar tender results are covered in our report on YEKA GES-2026.
Sources
- 8 uluslararası finans kuruluşu Sivas ve Taşeli GES için destek mektubu imzaladı (Anadolu Ajansı)
- Sivas ve Taşeli GES projelerinin finansmanı için yeni gelişme: 8 uluslararası finans kuruluşundan destek mektubu (Mersin Haber / İHA)
- 8 finans kuruluşu ACWA’nın 2 bin MW’lık Sivas ve Taşeli GES projelerine destek verdi (Haberler.com / ANKA)
- Historic Energy Agreement with Saudi Arabia (Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources)
Photo: Zeynel Cebeci / CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
