Solar business strategies in Turkey: First Solar partners for Eurasia

02/15/2017 | Print view

Fronius scores in Turkey also with its professional service and support as for a 500 kW PV rooftop installation at a textile mill in Adana with 40 IG Plus inverters. - © Fronius — © Fronius

Fronius scores in Turkey also with its professional service and support as for a 500 kW PV rooftop installation at a textile mill in Adana with 40 IG Plus inverters.

Despite political and economic uncertainties Turkey still remains an important PV market and a gate to Eurasia. Yesterday First Solar announced a collaborative sales agreement with Zorlu Holding. Companies like SMA and Fronius see good perspectives at the Bosporus.

First Solar joins forces with Turkish industrial conglomerate Zorlu Holding to expand to Eurasian markets. Yesterday the companies signed a collaborative sales agreement. Under the five-year agreement, Zorlu will become a major distributor of First Solar’s modules in Turkey, Afghanistan, Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Pakistan, Romania, Serbia, Turkmenistan, the Ukraine, and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). In addition to selling PV modules in these markets, Zorlu Solar will undertake its own project development activity and will power its projects with First Solar technology.

First Solar partners but closes Istanbul office

“We see this agreement as an enabler of our growth strategy in the region. By leveraging Zorlu’s commercial strength in these countries we expect to gain access to module sales opportunities in emerging markets, some of which we have not previously targeted,” said Stefan Degener, First Solar’s Head of Business Development for Europe, Turkey, and Africa. As part of the agreement, First Solar will transition its existing Business Development resources in Turkey to Zorlu Solar and will close its office in Istanbul. First Solar established a presence in Turkey in 2014. The company did not comment whether Turkish import restrictions for solar modules influenced the decision.

Fronius: No additional risks

“For Turkey, we see stable business in the market segment for unlicensed systems at least for the first half of the year. However, due to the changes in the framework conditions in 2016, which will only have an impact at a later date, we expect to see a fall in the second half of the year. We do not see any additional risks”, Hannes Wendeler, Area Sales Manager of Fronius told pv Europe. Fronius has a subsidiary in Turkey since 2010 and collaborates with several distribution partners. Projects that have been realized successfully include a 500 kW PV system with 40 Fronius IG Plus inverters at the textile company Kıvanç Tekstil in Adana for self-consumption

SMA: Reinforced commitment to the growing Turkish PV market

“The Turkish solar market is growing continuously according to today's assumptions. We expect there to be around 700 MW in 2017. Commercial plants currently account for the largest share of the market since no license is required for installations under 1MW. Regulations concerning PV are changing rapidly though”, Susanne Henkel, speaker of SMA told pv Europe. In November SMA and EPC Else Enerji signed a frame agreement for the supply of 154 MW of central and string inverters from SMA for plants to be realized by ELSE Enerji within a year. “This new agreement with ELSE Enerji, reinforces SMA’s commitment to the growing Turkish PV market,” underlined Marko Werner, Executive Vice President Sales EMEA at SMA. “We strongly believe that the Turkish market will continue to show high growth potential.”

The German Solar Association (BSW-Solar) expects a PV build-up of around 600 MW in Turkey in 2017, a spokesperson told pv Europe. (HCN)

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