The Regulation Amending the Electricity Market Capacity Mechanism Regulation and the Regulation Amending the Regulation on Renewable Energy Source Guarantee Certificate in Electricity Market published in the Official Gazette on 21 May 2021, introduced significant changes to the capacity mechanism and renewable energy resource guarantee certificate (“YEK-G“) applications.
What changes have been introduced?
1. The definition of facilities that can benefit from the capacity mechanism has been changed.
(i) Build-operate projects and (ii) power plants that are existing and in operation in accordance with their licenses, whose temporary acceptance date is more than 13 years (calculated starting from the provisional acceptance date of their oldest unit) and that are not based on domestic resources, both of which were previously not included in the capacity mechanism, can participate in the capacity mechanism.
Licensed legal entities with these facilities that want to participate in the 2021 capacity mechanism should apply to the system operator within 15 days from 21 May 2021.
2. YEK-G system transition provisions have been regulated.
(i) Issuance transactions for the period of 1 March 2021 to 31 May 2021
YEK-G system users can request the issuance of YEK-G certificate from the market operator (EPİAŞ) after the market operator notifies the certified generation amount for this period.
(ii) Redemption transactions for the period of 1 January 2021 to 31 May 2021
YEK-G certificates to be redeemed due to the consumption of consumers within this period will be subject to redemption notification of suppliers as of the date of the May 2021 final settlement notice within the scope of balancing and settlement regulation.
Conclusion
With the changes regarding the inclusion of build-operate projects in the capacity mechanism, some build-operate projects are expected to be reactivated. Regarding the YEK-G system, necessary provisions regarding the transition period were regulated.
Nigar Gokmen, Head of Energy, Mining, and Infrastructure, and Tugay Hanegelioglu, Associate, Esin Attorney Partnership
