Conergy establish JV to expand solar business to Turkey
Conergy has announced its expansion into Turkey with the establishment of a co-owned solar company called RKT Conergy. This new company is co-owned with the Turkish CO Group, a strong and capable joint venture partner with which Conergy is well positioned to be a leading player in the Turkish PV market.
RKT Conergy will provide project development, financing, engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) as well as operations and maintenance (O&M) services to the Turkish market with a focus on commercial rooftop and ground-mount segment.
Turkey is one of the most attractive emerging solar markets with favourable market conditions: increasing energy demand and high irradiance level, supported by a government-sponsored feed-in tariff (FIT) program.
The joint venture will be led by Heinz-Peter Tienken, Vice President Global Engineering & Service of Conergy, and Utku Korkmaz, Managing Director of RKT.
The CO Group, part of the Cenay Group, is owned and managed by Cengiz Guldamlası, who has extensive business experience in Turkey. The Cenay Group owns multiple companies in the relevant business segments of electrical infrastructure, real estate, construction, and telecommunications. RKT, the project development company co-owned by Cengiz Guldamlası, has developed more than 800 MW of wind parks to date and is now developing solar projects together with Conergy.
"We made good progress in building up a pipeline within the unlicensed PV segment and already have 30 MW of secured grid," said Utku Korkmaz, Managing Director of RKT Conergy. "With the addition of Conergy, which is both bankable and experienced in the solar sector, we will be able to further strengthen and speed up our project development activities".
Conergy's expansion into Turkey follows the company's recent return to profitability, bringing in nearly half a billion USD in revenue in 2014, and completing an equity financing round this month, which included giant European utility, RWE.
Conergy, with its solid shareholder backing and a strong balance sheet, is one of the most bankable and fastest growing downstream solar companies in the world. The company is continuously expanding its high quality services in providing project development, financing, EPC, and O&M globally to all solar segments: utility-scale, commercial and residential.
In 2014, Conergy developed and installed 300 MW of utility scale projects, bringing its total installed capacity to nearly 1 GW and placing it among the largest solar companies globally.
"We look forward to expanding our global business to the Turkish market," said Alexander Gorski, Chief Operating Officer of Conergy. "Further, we are pleased to have the CO Group as our partner in this promising market."
"Conergy with its many years of solar experience and its high quality engineering standards is an ideal partner for us to grow a solar business in Turkey with," said Cengiz Guldamlası. "We expect RKT Conergy to grow very rapidly."
RKT Conergy will exhibit at the Solarex in Istanbul starting at April 9, 2015.
