November 2015 saw STEAG GmbH, based in Essen, commission the last eight turbines at its wind farm in Süloglu in the north-west of Turkey. A total of 20 wind turbines, each capable of generating 3.0 MW of electricity, have been put into operation there one by one since September. This huge on-shore wind farm project by STEAG comes just over a year after the company commissioned the Crucea Nord wind farm in Romania, which generates 108 MW in total.
Joachim Rumstadt, Chairman of the Management Board at STEAG, remarked on the project‘s strategic importance: „The thrust of our strategy is to set up profitable on-shore wind projects both inside and outside Germany, thereby promoting the wider use of renewable energies.“ Now that the Süloglu wind farm has been commissioned, STEAG boasts the ability to produce over 300 MW of wind energy in Germany, France, Poland, Romania and Turkey. The next building phase will soon see another 50 MW of wind energy – the majority of which will be generated in France – added to this total.
The commissioning of the wind farm in Süloglu marks multiple milestones in STEAG‘s company history. Its large power station in Iskenderun (1,320 MW) has enabled STEAG to offer the Turkish energy market a reliable supply of electricity since 2003. The new wind farm constitutes the firm‘s first investment in the renewable energy sector in Turkey and has laid the foundations for STEAG to continue expanding its activities in the Turkish electricity market. The company is now operating for the first time via its subsidiary STEAG Turkey Enerji, which is marketing electricity generated by renewable sources directly in Turkey. Once STEAG had started producing electricity, it immediately started trading with the EPIAŞ, the Turkish spot and intra-day stock exchange.
The project is also making use of the subsidies that the Turkish government has instated to promote the generation of renewable energies: Wind projects in Turkey are entitled to a fixed feed-in tariff that can be paid over a ten-year period. This remuneration, which can start to be claimed at the beginning of 2016, helps to ensure that wind farms are economically viable. Farm operators are also able to sell the electricity they generate on the free market. STEAG will be following both of these routes to market in Turkey in the future. (STEAG/Si.)
