Turkey's Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources has amended legislation governing large-scale renewable energy resource areas ("RERA"). The General Directorate of Renewable Energy's ("General Directorate") authority has been expanded, to now also include the power to determine technical and administrative aspects of RERA contest announcements. Changes are also made to contract execution and tender announcement processes.
The Regulation Amending the Renewable Energy Resource Areas Regulation ("Amendment Regulation") was published in Official Gazette number 30035 on 11 April 2017. The Amendment Regulation makes changes to the Renewable Energy Resource Areas Regulation ("Regulation"), published in Official Gazette number 29852 on 9 October 2016 (more information about the Regulation).
Notable changes under the Amendment Regulation include:
- The General Directorate's authority has been expanded, to now include the power to determine technical and administrative aspects of RERA contest announcements.
- Clarification that the purchase period can only be extended in certain circumstances, as specified in the Regulation.
- Clarification that electricity generated by RERA facilities can be included in the Renewable Energy Resource Support Mechanism as of the date the facility becomes partially operational, without any application being necessary.
- If financial proposals by applicants are the same, the RERA Commission will now determine which applicant's proposal will be considered in the reverse auction.
- The General Directorate is no longer required to include the following in tender announcements:
- Connection capacities to be allocated based on connection areas.
- Features of components to be used and production processes.
- Minimum criteria for factories established within RERA facilities.
- The tender's date and time.
- The specific document list for RERA applications which was stated in the Regulation has now been removed. Rather, the Amendment Regulation now states in a general manner that the documents set out in the tender specifications for each RERA project should be presented to the General Directorate.
- Companies which are entitled to apply for a RERA pre-license regarding electricity production will be fined if they do not apply to the Energy Market Regulatory Authority within 45 days.
Please see this link for the full text of the Regulation (only available in Turkish).
Information first published in the MA | Gazette, a fortnightly legal update newsletter produced by Moroğlu Arseven.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.