A solar power plant project in Afyonkarahisar province

A Turkish agricultural cooperative invested in a solar power plant to support the cooperative’s need for electricity. This has created a significant financial benefit for the cooperative members.

Located in Afyonkarahisar district, Yeşilçiftlik Agricultural Irrigation Cooperative consists of 1,000 members. The company was looking for innovative ways of reducing its energy costs and generating energy from a green source.

TurSEFF consultant advised the company to invest in a 1 MW_el solar power plant and the company cooperative applied for a €577,983 loan from one of TurSEFF’s partner bank and invested a total of €773,608 into the solar power plant. During the project implementation TurSEFF consultant performed the project analysis, assessed the potential of energy savings, financial-technical parameters, and risks of the investment.

As a result of the investment, the electricity needs of the cooperative are met entirely from the sun, therefore, an important economic contribution is made to the cooperative member farmers. The plant generates approximately 1.7 GWh of electricity, with a 16% capacity factor and 1 MW total installed capacity. This green energy investment also contributes to the mitigation of the negative impacts of climate change. The plant helps reduction of the CO2 emissions up to 618 tonnes per year.

The project’s financing solution was developed in cooperation with TurSEFF, Dal Group and İş Bankası, by an innovative and pioneering financial model which was the first ever made in this field. The model has also been supported by Dal Group’s turnkey project implementation service provided to the cooperative. This innovative financing approach will be a good example in Turkey, for further energy cooperative investments in this field.

The Türkiye Sustainable Energy Financing Facility (TurSEFF) was developed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to provide financing for Resource Efficiency and Sustainable Energy investments. European Union (EU) is supporting TurSEFF by providing finance to Technical Assistance.