Hanwha Q Cells begins operating Turkey’s largest solar plant

Published : Dec 2, 2015 - 17:15 Updated : Dec 2, 2015 - 17:28

Hanwha Q Cells, the world’s leading solar cell manufacturer, has begun operating a portion of its solar power plant in Turkey which will become the largest of its kind in the country upon completion in 2016.

The South Korean solar cell manufacturer said Wednesday it has finished building its first plant -- with a production capacity of 8.3 megawatts of solar energy -- in Burdur, a city in southwestern Turkey.

Hanwha is scheduled to complete another plant with a 10 MW capacity by next year, driving up the Burdur plants’ total production capacity to 18.3 MW in 2016, the largest in the country.

Hanwha Q Cells’ solar power plant in Burdur, Turkey (Hanwha Q Cells)

The newly constructed plant will produce some 13,467 megawatt-hours of solar energy to power roughly 2,700 households in the region for one year.

The plant was reportedly built from start to finish by Hanwha, which took charge of the engineering, procurement and construction processes, and plans to oversee its operations and maintenance.

“The newly-built solar plant is the biggest of its kind in Turkey. It represents Hanwha’s outstanding technological and construction prowess in the solar power segment,” said managing director of Hanwha Q Cells Turkey Lee Jun-sung.

“We plan to further continue to expand our solar business in the Turkish market in the years to come,” he said.

Turkey is considered an emerging high-growth market for the solar power production business amid declining solar demand in Europe.

As part of its efforts to address the country’s energy shortage, the Turkish government has enacted a policy to award $0.133 per kilowatt of energy in feed-in tariffs to solar power producers, aiming to attract more investment into its renewable energy sector.

Turkey’s solar power market stood at 340MW, and is forecast to grow by roughly 79 percent to stand at 610MW next year, according to Hanwha.

Meanwhile, Hanwha Q Cells has been expanding its business into a number of other global markets recently, including not only advanced countries like the U.S. and Japan, but also emerging markets like Turkey and India.

Hanwha Q Cells -- formed by the merger of Hanwha Group’s two solar units Hanwha SolarOne and Hanwha Q Cells in February -- recently posted record-high earnings in the third quarter, swinging back to profit for the first time in four years.

The firm’s net revenue grew by 26.4 percent while its operating profit grew 40-fold over the previous quarter, thanks to favorable business conditions, the company said.

By Sohn Ji-young (jys@heraldcorp.com)