South of Bergama, Turkey the country’s central government, authorities and business representatives inaugurated the largest wind farm to be erected in Turkey to date.
Nordex has installed a total of 17 turbines from the N90/2500 series, with a total capacity of 42.5 megawatts (MW) for Innores A.S. at the Yuntdag wind farm. With wind speeds of between 8.5 and 9.5 m/s they could provide up to Turkish 75,000 households with electricity.
The wind farm built by Nordex is part of an effort to increase electricity production in the country where, in 2007 alone, electricity consumption increased by 45 percent. Although the first wind turbine started operation in Turkey as early as 1998, actual progress in the market has only been evident in the past two years. This period saw the installation of most of the total of 225 MW on grid at the end of 2007.
In 2006 turbines with a capacity of 56 MW were erected, followed by a further 148 MW in 2007. According to Turkey’s Energy Minister Hilmi Güler, this figure is to increase to 20,000 MW by 2020. Güler puts the current installed capacity at 333 MW, rising to 475 MW by the end of 2008.