New Developments
The Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources ("Ministry") published an addendum ("Addendum") concerning general specifications and the draft contract of solar-based renewable energy resource areas ("RERA") and the connection capacities project ("RERA Solar-3") competitions announced in the Official Gazette on 3 July 2020.
What Changes Does the Addendum Introduce?
The Ministry previously postponed the RERA Solar-3 competitions to 8-12 March 2021 and increased the opening ceiling price, which was initially 30 Turkish lira cents/kWh, to 35 Turkish lira cents/kWh. The Addendum brings additional amendments, including several changes to the price escalation mechanism.
In this scope, the Addendum:
- added an escalation mechanism to the quarter energy purchase price adjustment formula based on the consumer price index (CPI) and the average of US dollars and euro purchase exchange rates;
- deleted the definition of "Increasing Market Clearing Prices ("A-PTF"), which was used within the scope of the escalation mechanism;
- fixed a new ceiling value for energy purchase prices which was previously indexed to the A-PTF; accordingly, the corresponding value of an updated unit energy purchase price cannot exceed 5.30 US dollar cents/kWh, and the corresponding value will be calculated based on the average daily US dollar purchase exchange rates published by the Turkish Republic Central Bank for the second, third and fourth months prior to the first month of the relevant calculation period;
- removed the statement envisaging no escalation to the energy purchase price for the period until the beginning of the first quarter;
- increased the periods to be granted to the winning bidder for the nomination of two RERAs and an additional nomination if or when the first one is found to be unsuitable, from 45 days to 60 days;
- stated that cooperation of the Ministry with the winning bidder regarding the due obtainment of permits and approvals from the public authorities will be based on the good faith principle; and
- explicitly prohibited the usage of energy resources other than solar power within the scope of RERAs during the contract term.
Conclusion
The RERA Solar-3 competitions are expected to take place on 8-12 March 2021 as per the general specifications and draft contract amended by the Addendum.
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