The Karapınar solar power project, also called the Karapınar YEKA solar power plant, is a 1GW photovoltaic (PV) solar power station being constructed in the Konya Province of Turkey. The solar power project is situated approximately 4.5km north of the D330 Konya-Adana route, in the Karapınar district, Konya Province. The 19.2km2 scheme site also lies in the Central Anatolia region, around 100km far from the Konya airport. Kalyon Group‘s subsidiary, Kalyon Enerji, is constructing the scheme in collaboration with China Electronics Technology Corporation (CETC) with over £758m ($1bn) estimated investment.
Karapınar Solar Power Project Scope.
The Karapınar solar park will include around 3.5 million ground-mounted photovoltaic (PV) solar modules with 1,000MW total net output. The other significant components in the scheme include mounting (tracking) structures, cable networks, DC/AC inverters, transformers, energy transmission lines, substations and supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems. The project involves the construction of two electrical substations, one in the northern section and the other on the southern edge of the site. It will utilise 400kV, 154kV, and 33kV feeders along with IEC 61850-based substation automation system.
The scheme is set to be developed in two phases, 200MW in first phase and the second with 800MW. The other infrastructure provisions for the scheme include stormwater management, a spare parts storage facility, water supply, and drainage systems, a control building, site access and an internal road network. The electricity produced by the Karapınar solar power station will be transported to the national electricity grid through two separate connections. While a 400kV power transmission line will be linked to Yeşilhisar Substation while another 154kV power evacuation line will be linked to the Karapınar Substation for onward transmission to the grid.
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The Solar Power Project Timeline
2017
The Karapınar solar power scheme was earlier awarded to Hanwha Q CELLS and Kalyon Enerji consortium in March. In December, RINA was also engaged to perform site survey and investigation.
2019
While the construction works on the scheme were started in December with the facility’s first modules being commissioned in September 2020. Nexten Enerji was awarded a tender for the construction and repair maintenance works of the Karapınar project in September. In the same month Vigi Group was contracted by the Kalyon Enerji and CETC consortium for the scheme management services. Later, in the year, Hanwha Q CELLS was replaced by China Electronics Technology Corporation (CETC) as the project’s development partner.
2020
RINA Company was tasked with the preparation of the environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA) report for the scheme in 2020. In July, Vekon started producing and supplying the profile structures for the Karapınar solar power project, while Chain Logistics was tasked with transportation of solar panels.
2021
In June, first phase of the solar plant, the Karapınar Solar Power Plant (SPP), has was finalized with panel installation totaling to 271 megawatts (MW) of capacity.
The capacity of the PV modules manufacturing plant is set to be increased to 1,000MW. CETC, alongside Kalyon Enerji also intends to establish a 500MW fully integrated PV manufacturing plant for the in-house production of solar panels in Ankara included with an onsite research and development centre. Scheduled to complete and full-scale commissioned in August 2023, the Karapına solar farm is expected to produce approximately 2300 Giga-watt hours (GWh) of electricity per year which will be enough to meet the power demands of around two million Turkish households.
