Turcas to Invest in Renewables to Benefit From State Incentives

(Bloomberg) — Turcas Petrol AS plans to invest in
renewable energy to diversify its assets and take advantage of
Turkish government incentives for clean power.

The company has earmarked $65 million for a 16-megawatt
geothermal plant in the western province of Aydin with its
Ankara-based partner BM Muhendislik, Chief Executive Officer
Batu Aksoy said Wednesday. It has also bid for licenses for four
wind farms with a total capacity of 116 megawatts.

Turcas, a fuel retailer and electricity producer, has
studied expansion into renewables in the past. It applied for
wind licenses at six Turkish sites in 2007, and wasn’t selected.
It has also drilled in several provinces to find geothermal
resources. By adding clean-energy capacity, the company would
qualify for guaranteed power-purchase rates from the state.

“As a key energy player in the market, we would like to
diversify our energy production mix,” Aksoy told reporters in
Istanbul, where Turcas is based. “Renewable energy is the right
investment for this because of government incentives.”

The planned geothermal plant is scheduled to come on stream
in 2017. The company already operates a 775-megawatt gas-fired
power station in Denizli province with RWE AG.

Turkey guarantees to buy wind energy and hydropower at 7.3
cents a kilowatt-hour, geothermal electricity at 10.5 cents a
kilowatt-hour and solar and biomass-fired power at 13.3 cents.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Ercan Ersoy in Istanbul at
eersoy@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Reed Landberg at
landberg@bloomberg.net
Amanda Jordan, Ana Monteiro

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