GÜYAD Brought the Sector Together at the Renewable Energy Finance Summit

• The "Renewable Energy Finance Summit" organized by the Solar Energy Investors Association GÜYAD was held with the participation of Abdullah Tancan, Deputy Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, Mustafa Elitaş, Chairman of the Industry, Trade, Energy, Information and Technology Commission of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, and Mustafa Yılmaz, Chairman of EMRA.
• At the summit, which was described by the Bank's representatives as a 'success story' in the Turkish energy sector and brought together more than 130 senior executives from the energy sector, the participants shared their ideas on the most ideal solutions for the financing of renewable energy projects.
• Hakan Birhan, Head of Corporate and Investment Banking Department of Akbank, Emre Hatem, Garanti BBVA Corporate Loans and Project Finance Structuring Director, Can Yücel, Corporate Loans Allocation Department Manager at İş Bank, and Hale Tunaboylu Yayla, Director of Project and Structured Finance at Yapı Kredi Bank, attended the summit held on November 15, 2019 at Rafless Istanbul Hotel as speakers.

The meeting chaired by GÜYAD Chairman Cem Özkök was held by GÜYAD Secretary General Att. It started with Berke Aygün's opening speech. After the opening, GÜYAD Chairman Cem Özkök moderated the session with the participation of bank representatives and said, "Today we brought together all the architects of the YEKDEM process, which is described as a success story. With the Ministry of Energy, the Parliamentary Energy Commission, EMRA, banks and investors, YEKDEM has indeed become a success story." At the session, the executives of Akbank, Garanti BBVA, İş Bankası and Yapı Kredi Bank shared how YEKDEM has given momentum to the Turkish energy sector from past to present and their expectations for the next period.

In the last part of the summit, the opinions of EMRA President Mustafa Yılmaz, TGNA Industry, Trade, Energy, Information and Technology Commission Chairman Mustafa Elitaş and Deputy Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Abdullah Tancan were taken.

Tancan: Mini YEKA tenders in the sun will be announced in December

Deputy Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Tancan, who stated that they plan to announce the YEKA competitions in December, said that regulations should be made in the law on the use of renewable energy sources for the purpose of electrical energy production and that the process related to renewable energy incentives after 2021 will be announced after their enactment. Abdullah Tancan said, "We will announce the mini solar YEKA competitions with a capacity of 1,000 MW in December. We are designing a capacity of 1,000 MW in such a way that 10 MW capacities can be applied for and there will be 100 separate competition announcements. This is a draft for the time being. We plan to open capacities ranging from 10 to 50 megawatts for 39 provinces, which could be 40 or 41. After receiving the opinions from the sector, we will also clarify the technical issues. We plan to receive proposals in April 2020. It was a development that our sector has been waiting for a long time."

Yılmaz: YEKDEM should not be the only model

Stating that YEKDEM has an important share in the formation of 8 thousand MW capacities in wind energy and 6 thousand MW in solar energy in Turkey today, EMRA President Mustafa Yılmaz said, "We have changed Turkey's energy investment culture, and we need to change the financing culture in parallel. We need to produce new models. We want the investments in the Turkish energy sector to shrink and spread to the base. We support YEKDEM, but YEKDEM should not be the only model. Studies on new financing models should be carried out."

Banks want long-term support

Stating that the continuation of YEKDEM is necessary for the growth of the energy sector, Garanti BBVA Corporate Loans and Project Finance Structuring Director Emre Hatem stated the following in his speech: "The price level of the purchase guarantee for the new period, the currency and whether the guarantee will depend on the fixed or market clearing price (PTF) are three important issues. If the purchase guarantee in the new period is enslaved to PTF, it will be difficult for banks to finance these projects. At the moment, the lowest interest rate is in the euro and we see that it is useful to give the purchase guarantee in the new period in euros. Also, when we consider that the equipment in renewable energy projects is mostly imported from Europe, the costs are lower than the dollar."

Can Yüce, Head of Corporate Loans Allocation Department at Türkiye İş Bankası, said, "Of the $95 billion investment budget, $70 billion was funded by banks. The weighted part is YEKDEM. A loan balance of $ 45 billion was formed in the sector where banks made significant collections. This is very important. In any case, the sector has to grow to maintain the quality of its existing capacity and keep up with technology. We believe that the weight of energy in our loan portfolio will continue in the same way."

Hakan Birhan, Head of Corporate and Investment Banking Department at Akbank "The maturity has to be sufficient. If the price is fixed and the maturity is long, we can allocate resources more easily. It is very important that the maturity and price work with each other. The legislation should be very clear and little changed."

"YEKDEM strengthened the bankers' trust and faith in the system. Project financing is the long-term purchase guarantee at a fixed price that we want to see as bankers," said Hale Tunaboylu Yayla, Project and Structured Finance Director of Yapı Kredi Bank, adding that wind and solar are projects that go extremely healthy and do not have a problem in paying loans. Tunaboylu Yayla said, "Long-term financing guarantees covering more than 10 years make this support sustainable."