Restructuring Of Technical And Legal Processes In Applications For Electricity Generation Using Wind Resources

I. INTRODUCTION

The Regulation on the Technical Evaluation of Applications for Electricity Generation Based on Wind Resources (the "Regulation") was published in the Official Gazette dated October 20, 2015, and numbered 29508, and entered into force thereafter. The Regulation sets forth how technical evaluations shall be conducted in the application processes for electricity generation facilities based on wind energy, the methods and criteria for determining power plant sites, and the technical and administrative coordination among the relevant institutions.

With the Regulation Amending the Regulation on the Technical Evaluation of Applications for Electricity Generation Based on Wind Resources (the "Amendment Regulation"), published in the Official Gazette dated October 1, 2025, and numbered 33034, comprehensive amendments have been introduced to the existing Regulation. These amendments cover areas such as pre-license and generation license processes, determination of connection regions, technical evaluation criteria, methods for determining power plant sites, and the assessment of unlicensed generation applications. The amendments aim to render the technical processes more transparent and auditable for the administration, investors, and grid operators alike.

The new provisions introduced by the Amendment Regulation have significantly eliminated uncertainties regarding technical issues that have long been the subject of debate in practice, such as the application of safety buffer zones, determination of power plant site boundaries, designation of connection regions, and control mechanisms concerning amendment applications. Moreover, the restructuring of the supervision responsibility for notarized consent letters, the simplification of processes concerning the operation of the technical evaluation report, and the definition of data entry methods compatible with digital systems have strengthened the administrative functioning mechanism of the Regulation.

II. FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES

1. What are the Regulations Introduced by the Amendment Regulation Regarding the Safety Buffer Zone for Pre-Licenses and Generation Licenses?

With the Amendment Regulation, a coordinate-centered and project-boundary-focused approach has come to the forefront in the processes related to pre-licenses and generation licenses, and the concept of the "safety buffer zone" has been removed as a technical evaluation criterion.

According to the new regulation, the area defined by the rotor blade diameter, taking the installation point of the wind turbines as the center, as well as the electricity storage facility, if any, must be located within the boundaries of the power plant site registered in the pre-license or generation license. However, the unit coordinates and storage facilities must be located within the boundaries of the power plant site, thereby preventing turbines from extending beyond the licensed area. In amendment applications submitted for modifying the power plant site, whether intersecting with or independent from the existing boundaries, it is essential that the turbines do not have any impact on the turbines in neighboring sites; or, in cases where such an impact exists, notarized consent must be obtained.

As a consequence of this amendment, the concept of the safety buffer zone has not been entirely removed from the legislation; it has merely ceased to be a binding factor in the technical suitability assessment. The requirement that turbine placement be confined within the licensed site boundaries remains in force, while issues such as site overlaps, turbine interactions, and consent procedures shall continue to be examined separately under other applicable regulations.

2. How Is the Connection Region Determined for a Pre-License Application Entering the Connection Competition?

Pursuant to the Amendment Regulation, the principle has been introduced that "the connection region in which a pre-license application will participate in the connection competition shall be determined within the framework of the relevant legislation," thereby removing the determination of the connection region from being based solely on criteria such as surface area or the number of turbines.

Under the Electricity Market Law No. 6446 (the "Law"), in the event that there is more than one application to connect to the same connection point or region, a competition is organized by the Türkiye Elektrik İletim Anonim Şirketi ("TEİAŞ") under the Law No. 5346 on the Utilization of Renewable Energy Resources for the Purpose of Electricity Generation in order to determine as many applications as the announced capacity. These competitions are conducted on the basis of the lowest bid over the prices listed in Schedule (I) annexed to the Law, and the procedures and principles are regulated by a regulation issued by the Energy Market Regulatory Authority (the "EMRA") upon the proposal of TEİAŞ.

Within this framework, in competitions other than renewable energy resource areas (the "RERA"), connection regions are determined in line with the connectable generation capacity and regional announcements announced by TEİAŞ, whereas in RERA competitions the region and capacity are determined in the announcements or specifications of the Republic of Türkiye Ministry of Energy (the "Ministry") and Natural Resources. As higher-tier legal norms, the Law and presidential decrees delineate the scope of authority of EMRA, TEİAŞ and the Ministry in this process.

3. Which Amendment Applications Must Be Checked by the Grid Operator?

Notarized letters of consent submitted by natural or legal persons who have been issued a connection invitation letter for the purpose of conducting unlicensed generation activities must be verified by the relevant grid operator and subsequently submitted to the General Directorate of Energy Affairs (the "General Directorate"). With this regulation, responsibility for the document control and verification process previously under the sole authority of EMRA is also assigned to grid operators for unlicensed generation activities, thereby strengthening the on-site oversight mechanism.

The control obligation of grid operators encompasses both formal and technical aspects. Within the scope of the formal inspection, the validity of the notarized letter of consent must be verified; the identities and authorities of persons authorized to represent and legally bind the entity must be confirmed through commercial registry certificates or notarized powers of attorney; and the presence of the originals or duly certified copies of signature declarations and registry certificates must be examined. On the technical inspection side, the assessment includes verifying the compatibility of the unlicensed generation facility's location, capacity, and grid connection conditions with the existing system, as well as evaluating possible site overlaps and turbine interactions. Within this framework, grid operators are positioned as the primary control and supervision authority for unlicensed generation projects and enhancing the predictability and efficiency of administrative processes.

4. What Are the Changes Made by the Amendment Regulation in the Evaluation Processes for Amendment Requests under the Regulation on Unlicensed Electricity Generation in the Electricity Market (the "RUG"), Published in the Official Gazette dated May 12, 2019, and numbered 30772?

With the Amendment Regulation, the procedures and principles regarding the technical evaluation of amendment requests based on wind resources within the scope of the RUG have been restructured. In cases where incomplete or incorrect data are entered into the Renewable Energy Projects Evaluation and Monitoring System operated by the General Directorate, such applications are rejected during the technical evaluation stage on the grounds of non-compliance. During the approval process of application croquis, only documents approved by Licensed Cadastral and Surveying Engineering Offices or Cadastral Directorates are deemed valid. Thus, the obligation for technical documents to be prepared and verified by authorized institutions or licensed offices has been expressly stipulated.

For applications deemed suitable as a result of the technical evaluation, the technical evaluation report is now transmitted in its approved form directly to the relevant grid operator. In the previous regulatory period, unlicensed generation applications were generally not permitted within the plant site that was the subject of a pre-license or generation license application, and applications submitted within this scope were returned directly. Following the Amendment Regulation, this approach has been updated and, pursuant to RUG, it has been stipulated as a rule that unlicensed applications may not be filed for pre-license sites or for facility sites that are the subject of a generation license application. However, a limited exception has been introduced allowing the establishment of an unlicensed generation facility on the same site as licensed generation facilities, provided that connection is made from the same metering point. Within this exception, it has been made mandatory that the connection and system use agreements be arranged with zero in the delivery direction, and in the event of any energy flow to the grid, such energy shall not be subject to settlement or netting transactions and shall be deemed a gratuitous contribution to the Renewable Energy Resources Support Mechanism.

5. What Changes Have Been Made in the Power Plant Site Determination Methods?

In Annex-1 of the Regulation, the section titled "Power Plant Site Determination Methods" sets out the principles of Method-1 and Method-2, which clearly define how the boundaries of the power plant site are to be determined, including the technical distance rules and coordinate procedures.

• According to Method-1, the power plant site covers not only the turbine locations but also the areas formed by the rotor blade diameters of the wind turbines, as well as any electricity storage facilities and auxiliary resource units. Accordingly, this method has been updated to also cover hybrid and storage plants. For each turbine, the radius of the circumcircle of the polygon created is set at 700 (seven hundred) meters, and where the distance between turbines exceeds 1000 (a thousand) meters, no technical evaluation is conducted. In addition, with the introduction of the "cluster" concept, a requirement has been introduced to provide corner coordinates consecutively and in sequence, thereby allowing the proper operation of automatic verification processes in digital systems.
• With the amendment made in Method-2, the method for determining the power plant site in applications within the scope of RUG has been simplified, and the technical criteria have been made variable according to the turbine type. The circle method previously defined with a fixed maximum radius of 500 (five hundred) meters has been abolished; instead, it is stipulated that the power plant site boundary be formed on the basis of a radius equal to each turbine's rotor blade length.

It has been stipulated that, in applications involving more than one turbine, Method-1 shall apply, and the conditions that the sites be contiguous and that the specific plant installed capacity density be 3 MWm/km² or above shall be maintained. In addition, in land-based unlicensed generation applications, the rule that sites may not overlap has been explicitly regulated by the Amendment Regulation.

III. CONCLUSION

The Amendment Regulation has introduced a new approach to wind energy investments by removing the safety buffer zone application from the scope of technical evaluation and adopting a framework based on license site boundaries. By clarifying the methods for determining power plant sites, it has eliminated ambiguities in technical criteria. Granting grid operators the authority to verify notarized letters of consent has strengthened both document authenticity and technical compliance by shifting the audit process to the application stage. Furthermore, the provision requiring the Technical Evaluation Report to be submitted directly to the grid operator has simplified the administrative dimension of the procedures.

Taken together, these elements demonstrate that the Amendment Regulation constitutes a comprehensive reform that enhances technical compliance criteria, clarifies administrative procedures, and reduces uncertainties in practical implementation.

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