Turkey Begins Largest Government PV Project

Canadian has announced it will supply solar modules for Turkey's first and largest governmental solar PV project which will be installed by Gehrlicher Merk Solar, the joint venture company for the Turkish market of Gehrlicher Solar and Merk Solar Enerji. The two companies have won the public tendering for the Gursu municipality of Bursa in Turkey. The milestone PV project has a total capacity of 96 kW and is supported directly by the Turkish Prime Minister's office. Canadian Solar was selected out of 13 different module manufacturers for this project.

For the PV project in Gursu, Gehrlicher Merk Solar will use Canadian Solar's CS6P-P modules. The module type CS6P-P is a high-performance module featuring amongst others positive power tolerance (0 ~ +5W), a robust frame to up to 5400 PA load, anti-reflective with self-cleaning surface, outstanding performance at low irradiance, high energy yield at low NOCT, a 10 year product warranty on materials and workmanship and a 25 year linear power output warranty. The module recently delivered again highest PV USA (PTC) ratings - a universally recognized indicator of a solar system's real performance and power output.

Mr. Omer Cihan Karahan, CEO of Gehrlicher Merk Solar said: "This project is an important step towards fostering the greater energy independence of Turkey and the establishment of more solar energy in our country. After a long and careful decision making process and the evaluation of the offers of 13 different solar module manufacturers, we chose Canadian Solar due to the excellent customer service, proven quality and performance of their products. The longstanding experience of both Canadian Solar and Gehrlicher Merk Solar in the Turkish market will surely help us to win many MW projects including 500 kW's projects which do not need any licensing out of 600 MW's target of the country till 2014."

Turkey is regarded as one of the big future emerging markets for solar energy worldwide, as the insolation rates and temperature conditions are very favorable and in accordance with the government's decision earlier this year to place greater emphasis on fostering solar and simplifying the licensing process for power plant projects.

Dr Shawn Qu, Chairman and CEO of Canadian Solar, said: "We are very pleased with our cooperation with Gehrlicher Merk Solar on this project and are hoping to continue this success together in the future. The solar project in Gursu is an essential step forward in our business development efforts in the emerging Turkish renewable energy market. That we were selected showcases our strength in handling governmental tenders and acknowledges our longstanding experience in implementing reliable, high-performance solar solutions for a broad variety of individual customer needs and purposes. We hope to participate in further ground-breaking projects with our partners, especially when the expected 600 MW tendering procedures become officially effective." 

Previously, Canadian Solar supplied the modules for a commercial 45 kW solar rooftop plant, which held the record for Turkey's largest rooftop installation until now.