Hybrid plants push solar capacity past wind in Türkiye

Although Türkiye has 80 GW of floating solar potential, no floating solar plants have yet been installed as part of a hybrid plant. Türkiye’s only completed hydro-solar hybrid plant, Aşağı Kaleköy HEPP, has ground-mounted solar panels.

Secondary solar installation in hydroelectric power plants has multiple advantages. These include the availability of grid infrastructure at the facility and the ability to install floating solar panels on dammed hydro plant reservoirs without the need for suitable land. Moreover, floating solar and hydropower also support each other in terms of electricity generation. Since the panels installed on the water surface reduce evaporation, the stored water can be used more efficiently for hydroelectricity generation. The cooling effect of water also increases the generation efficiency of the panels.

Türkiye took the first step towards utilising floating solar potential through a bill submitted in January allowing floating solar installations on dammed hydro reservoirs. The proposal paves the way for the designation of power plant reservoirs as Renewable Energy Resource Areas (YEKA) allowing associated floating solar tenders, in addition to the installation of allocated secondary solar capacity on water surfaces at hybrid power plants.

State-owned hydroelectric power plants with large reservoirs can install floating solar panels through YEKA tenders. Atatürk, Karakaya, Keban, Ilisu and Birecik, operated by the Electricity Generation Corporation (EÜAŞ), are among the largest hydroelectric power plants in Türkiye. Assuming that panels are installed on 10% of the water surface, they have 17 GW of floating solar potential, with 7.7 GW located in the Atatürk Reservoir alone.

Also, these five dammed hydro power plants, which have a total reservoir area of 2,129 square kilometres, are advantageously located in provinces (Şanlıurfa, Diyarbakır, Elazığ and Mardin) that have some of the highest solar potential in the country.