German Economic Delegation Concludes Turkey Visit; Solar PV Market Stands Out as Potential Front for Bilateral Trade

• High-tech Engineering Firm Manz AG Highlights Advantages of Local PV ProductionExcerpt

The recently concluded high-profile German trade mission to Istanbul and Ankara, helmed by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs of the state of Baden-Württemberg in Southwest Germany, Dr Nils Schmid, explored the immense potential Turkey's solar energy market holds for German companies, and highlighted prospective fronts within this sector for cooperation between the two countries. Trade missions such as the foregoing have garnered heavy attention in wake of the Turkish government announcing its objective to meet 30% of the nation's energy requirements via renewable sources by 2023, a target that includes a minimum 3GW-share for solar PV projects.

“Today, Turkey's solar energy market is a confluence of highly favourable dynamics: it is nestled in a sun-soaked region, the government, in a bid to negotiate high import costs, has introduced attractive feed-in tariffs to spur local manufacture, and know-how transfer, too, is highly incentivised. This trade mission not only highlighted the latest developments in photovoltaic technology, but also underlined just how well-positioned companies from the Baden-Württemberg solar cluster are to act as partners to the Turkish power generation market,” commented Mohamed Alammawi, vice president of sales for the MENA region at Manz AG. Alammawi was joined by the firm's founder and CEO Dieter Manz, as well as the firm's director of business development for Turkey Ali Isik.

The delegation further delved into the benefits of locally producing PV modules and the financing of PV projects in light of the Turkish economic minister gearing to award feed-in tariff (FiT) licenses to 28 large solar PV projects this year.

Alammawi added: “CIGS thin-film technology is positioned as a prime candidate for meeting Turkey's solar energy target; already CIGSthin-film modules are highly suited to the nation's climate, by virtue of being less sensitive to dust, but, augmented by Turkey's attractive feed-in tariffs, local production of these modules adds momentum to the race to realise Turkey's solar potential.”