Turkey's Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EMRA) has granted the first preliminary licenses to 12 large-scale projects combining battery storage with wind and solar capacity.

“These are the first approvals since the announcement of the Energy Storage regulation in November,” Eren Engur, a board member for Turkish PV association Günder, told pv magazine. “The approved projects have a combined capacity of 744 MW.

Since the new rules went into effect, 37 GW of renewable energy projects linked to storage have been submitted to EMRA. The rules allow storage facilities to operate in combination with unlicensed power plants. Such plants are also allowed to increase their wind or solar capacity up to the installed power of a storage facility.

Engur said the country has the potential for 16 GWh in the residential segment, 21 GWh in the commercial and industrial sector, and more than 25 GWh in the utility scale business. He also said the new rules will support the Turkish PV market, which is growing by at least 1 GW per year.