Turkish solar enterprise Kalyon PV (a.k.a. Kalyon Enerji or Kalyon Solar Technologies) announced in late November that the second phase of its integrated production base has formally entered operation and fabricated its first batch of M10 cells. Cemal Kalyoncu, chairman of Kalyon Group, and representatives from China Electronics Technology Group Corporation (CETGC or CETC) were at site to witness this achievement.

Located near Ankara, the integrated production base has an annual production capacity of 1,000MW for modules and is the first of its kind in the Middle East (i.e., a mega plant that is capable of manufacturing ingots, wafers, cells, and modules). CETGC has been the critical partner in supporting the implementation of this turnkey manufacturing project. Kalyon and CETGC signed the cooperation agreement for the construction of the base in October 2019. They sealed another deal for the 500MW second-phase expansion in November 2020.

Since CETGC is a major state-owned enterprise, the development of the integrated production base in Ankara reflects the current bilateral relations between China and Turkey as well as the progress that China has made in its Belt and Road Initiative. CETGC has touted that the base is the first integrated PV product manufacturing hub that it has established overseas.

Turkey intends to leverage its geographical and environmental advantages to not only build PV power plants for meeting domestic electricity demand but also foster a strong indigenous PV industry. As one of Turkey’s major industrial conglomerates, Kalyon is working with partners around the world to set up PV projects within the country while localizing the manufacturing of related equipment. Kalyon especially wants to benefit from the incentives and tenders that are offered by the Turkish government through the YEKA scheme (translated as “Renewable Energy Resource Area”).