Tolga Murat Özdemir, Chairman of the Board of Directors of GENSED-Solar Energy Industrialists and Industry Association, said that the Turkey Green Fund, which was announced by the Minister of Treasury and Finance Mehmet Şimşek to be established, is the pioneer of the mobilization expected by the sector. Özdemir also evaluated the granting of the 155 billion dollar fund to be managed by TSKB to SMEs to be used in Roof Solar Power Plants and the support of green transformation projects as positive news. Expressing that they are very pleased with this development, Özdemir said, "As GENSED, we expect a transparent explanation of how the Turkish Green Fund will be delivered to industrialists and SMEs and a regulation on how the fund will be used as soon as possible."
Tolga Murat Özdemir, Chairman of the Board of Directors of GENSED, the association with the most widespread membership profile in the solar energy sector with nearly 250 members, evaluated the Turkish Green Fund. Stating that today there are two important problems regarding the development of solar energy, namely 'accessing financing' and 'capacity', Özdemir said, “With the positive development in the financing aspect; "I believe that capacity, which is a technical issue, will be addressed and expanded by the relevant institutions as soon as possible," he said.
“Providing Rooftop Solar Support to SMEs is a very good start.”
Özdemir stated that the 155 million dollar loan to be transferred to TKSB for the Green Finance Project announced by the Minister of Treasury and Finance Mehmet Şimşek is the first package of the 850 million dollar fund to be provided by the World Bank. Özdemir continued: “The condition of the World Bank is that it be given to SMEs for use in Rooftop Solar Power Plants and that green transformation projects are supported. We hope that the Turkish Green Fund will be transferred to the right projects in a healthy, fair and transparent manner; Industrialists and SMEs should especially benefit from this and this transformation should be accelerated. Therefore, we are very pleased with this development. A good start. Creating a fund and naming it green. It means that both the administration and the authority fully understand the importance of this. First of all, in order to direct this opportunity to our industrialists, we expect a transparent explanation of how the fund will be delivered to the industrialists and a regulation on how the fund will be used.”
“Legal and private individuals will be able to invest in the Türkiye Green Fund and earn income”
Pointing out that the Turkish Green Fund is a venture capital investment fund, Özdemir said, “It is good that it is so, because legal entities and private individuals can, of course, provided that they comply with the World Bank's criteria; He will be able to deposit money to the Türkiye Green Fund and earn income from there. Transformation to renewable and sustainable energy such as solar and wind is not a project that can only be done with bank funding or own resources. Projects of this scale in Europe and the world are implemented with funds. For example, in Europe, there are those who invest in such funds because they provide better returns, and those who benefit from the green certificate. But the best point about the Turkish Green Fund is that it is widespread, that is, it is a fund that will support those who want to build solar power plants on their roofs at the SME level and those who want to bring innovation to green transformation, not for large licensed producers and large projects, he said.
“Türkiye Green Fund will also help us achieve our targets regarding solar power plants”
Özdemir, as GENSED, organized the Solar+Storage NX and NextGen E-Mobility + Charge Expo & Summit fairs in Istanbul in September, together with Solis Fuarcılık and TEHAD, which bring together solar energy systems, storage systems and electric vehicles under the same roof for the first time in Turkey. He drew attention to the events they organized at Tüyap Fair and Congress Center. Reminding that more and more electric vehicles are on the roads in Turkey and that the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources has important aggressive targets regarding solar power plants that will feed their charging stations, Özdemir noted that access to finance is one of the important elements to achieve these targets and added that Turkey He noted that the Green Fund will also benefit in this regard.
