First Solar Secures Interconnection Rights for Three PV Plants in Turkey
Subject to regulatory approval, the three projects, with a combined capacity of 19 megawatts (MW)AC, will be developed in the MuÄŸla, Burdur, and Urfa provinces, in southern Turkey. When complete, the plants will produce an estimated 31.5 million kilowatt hours of electricity per year, sufficient to power an estimated 14,000 average homes in the country. All three projects will be powered by First Solar's advanced module technology.
"We entered the Turkish market, less than twelve months ago, with a strong belief in its potential to evolve into one of Europe's first truly sustainable PV markets. Our success in securing these connection rights vindicates our position and reinforces our confidence in the country and in the strength of its regulatory framework for renewable energy," said Christopher Burghardt, Vice President for Europe at First Solar. "We look forward to building on our success in Turkey and to contributing towards realizing the country's energy security ambitions."
A vertically integrated solar energy company, First Solar recently set a new world record for cadmium-telluride (CdTe) PV solar cell conversion efficiency, achieving 21.5 percent efficiency certified at the Newport Corporation's Technology and Applications Center (TAC) PV Lab in the United States. The achievement places First Solar ahead of its established research cell roadmap, and validates CdTe's continuing competitive advantage over traditional crystalline silicon technology.
"The fact that these plants will be powered by our advanced thin film technology, underscores the confidence we have in the ability of our modules to maximize energy output in a range of environmental conditions. With high levels of irradiation and high temperatures in southern Turkey, we expect our modules to thrive in the region," said Evren Evcit, First Solar's Head of Business Development for Turkey.
First Solar recently announced that it had achieved 10 gigawatts (GW) of PV solar capacity installed globally, making it the first thin film PV module manufacturer in the world to achieve this milestone. With enough modules installed worldwide to circle the planet three-and-a-half times, First Solar's 10GW of installed capacity produces an estimated 14,000 gigawatt hours (GWh) a year. This is equivalent to the annual energy consumption of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg or the city of Washington DC. It is also sufficient to power five million average households and displaces the need for as many as 20 average coal-powered plants.
A fully vertically integrated solar energy company, First Solar is the global leader in PV research and development (R&D), consistently accounting for the industry's largest spend in the area*. It was also ranked as the world's largest solar engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor** in 2014, and has been entrusted with building some of the world's largest solar power plants such as the Topaz Solar Farm (550MW) and the Desert Sunlight Solar Project (550MW) in the US, and Luz del Norte (141MW) in Chile. Additionally, with a portfolio of over 3GW, First Solar is also the industry's operations and maintenance (O&M) services leader.
