Turkey set to plunge into offshore wind

The change of tack follows the abandonment of an early project in 2017.

With 600 members, the Turkish Wind Energy Association is a weighty one, having been set up in 1992 and comprising industry, developers, financiers, service and maintenance companies and engineers.

“We now have some offshore companies. Turkey is completely onshore now based on installed capacity, but the Turkish government has changed gear to include offshore.”

Specific sites

“Our expectation is that in 2027 we are going to see and observe the initial tenders for three sites in the Marmaris, which were part of the original tender in 2017,” said Erden. “All of the candidates are for fixed bottom.

“We are talking about maybe four or five-fold more expensive, which would be very difficult for Turkey to digest,” he said.

With Turkey’s large land mass and onshore wind capacity, a valid question would be why bother with the more expensive offshore wind at all?

“We have other complementary industries – shipbuilding, logistics, construction – which are already active. The Turkish shipbuilding industry is already one of the significant partners of the European offshore shipping, and they are already supplying.”

The aim is high – Erden believes 3GW should be the minimum possible over the first three sites, given the evolving size of turbines.

International cooperation and China

“We’re not targeting everything to be made in Turkey,” he said. “This is an evolution. Turkey started with more or less total imports for its onshore story. Now, with the help of our location, geopolitical reach and the necessary structures – and complementary industrial base – we’ve had the chance to develop our own wind industry.

“When it comes to onshore, we have already reached about 50% localisation – but it took 20 years to get there. It is difficult to give it a target because it’s never been discussed.

“In a similar approach, the Turkish wind sector and government is not targeting bringing it all within Turkey, but to have step-by-step cooperation with international parties. If it makes sense to localise and if there are the support mechanisms we will consider what is of benefit to both parties.”

He says the threat of Chinese competition is the same for Turkey as it is for Europe.

“Europe has completely left the business in Chinese hands and are now complaining that they are flooding the market with their equipment,” he says. “If it floods Europe, then it’s going to have a negative impact on Turkish industry. We are bound to Europe – the development of the Turkish wind industry has been with the help of the European wind industry and the Turkish government’s efforts to accommodate them in Turkey.”

“We may be one of the candidates to de-risk Chinese exposure because Turkey cannot only help Europe to de-risk the supply chain but we can be partners within Europe,” he says.

“Turkey is one of the top 10 wind markets and if we can succeed offshore, we may not be at the top, but hopefully we will be one of the significant.”