Climate Investment Funds Board backs $1 billion Turkey grid upgrade project

Climate Investment Funds, a multilateral lender, has announced that it will provide an initial investment of $1 billion to support a plan to upgrade Turkey’s electricity grid to handle more renewable energy.

The CIF board approved a $70million investment from its Renewable Energy Integration Investment Platform (REI), with the goal of attracting an additional $790million to expand and upgrade transmission infrastructure, and $330million for technology.

The plan developed in conjunction with the European Bank for Reconstruction & Development and World Bank aims to attract other investors who will contribute more than 15x the contribution of CIF.

CIF's Chief Executive Tariye gbadegesin stated that Turkey has the solar and wind resources to achieve "one of most ambitious clean-energy scale-ups" in the world.

Our support for a flexible, smart and responsive national grid is helping to prepare the country for the rapid growth of intermittent wind and solar energy.

Modernisation involves upgrading the smart grid and strengthening connections. Digitalisation of the distribution grid, and an increase in battery energy capacity would be among the technological improvements.

CIF stated that the improvements would allow Turkey to add 60 Gigawatts to its power grid by 2035. This is enough energy to power 70 million homes a year.

Osman Celik is the Deputy Minister of Treasury and Finance in Turkey. He said that Turkey was committed to increasing its renewable energy capacity to meet "green development goals" and a goal of achieving net zero emissions before 2053.

CIF's endorsement of Turkey’s investment plan follows similar actions in REI Programme countries Brazil, Colombia Costa Rica Fiji, Kenya and Mali. (Reporting from Simon Jessop & Barbara Lewis)

(source: Reuters)