Turkey updates wind energy technical evaluation rules

The Turkish Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources has introduced new technical evaluation criteria for wind energy electricity production applications, as published in the Official Gazette. The regulations apply to both new and existing projects, focusing on land boundaries, turbine specifications, and project overlaps.

A key change is the expansion of “incompatible areas.” Technical evaluations will now consider potential conflicts with solar, biomass, geothermal, and designated YEKA (Renewable Energy Resource Zones) areas. To ensure accuracy, turbine information provided in applications must strictly match the corresponding turbine type certificates and their annexes; discrepancies or incomplete data may lead to application rejection.

For unlicensed wind projects, applications that overlap with YEKA areas or existing facilities owned by other investors will not pass technical assessment. Additionally, the distance between turbines in certain unlicensed production applications is set to not exceed 2,400 meters (as the crow flies). Each turbine must have a separate unit area with clearly indicated coordinates.

Existing pre-license or production license holders seeking modifications—such as changes to unit numbers, installed capacity, turbine coordinates, tower height, rotor diameter, or energy storage facility coordinates—must also comply with these new rules. Technical reports must provide more detailed site and turbine information, and land data must be verified using official coordinated documents.