TPI Composites, Inc and ALKE INSAAT have formed a joint venture company in Izmir, Turkey to manufacture large composite wind turbine blades.
The new joint venture, TPI Kompozit Kanat Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S., will commence operations immediately from a 355,000-square-foot building in Izmir, previously occupied by producers of steel containers in Europe. With convenient access to transportation routes, the facility is ideally located to serve the Turkish wind market and to cost-effectively export blades to southern, eastern Europe and northern Africa.
TPI Kompozit will provide blades to customers based on multi-year commitments. The joint venture will initially employ 350 people with the opportunity to triple the number of employees as the wind energy market in Turkey and eastern Europe grows.
Turkey’s energy consumption is rising by an average of 8-9 percent per year. The country is turning to renewable energy sources as a means to improve its energy security and curb dependence on imported gas. The country’s new feed-in-tariff, including incentives for local content, combined with attractive merchant market electricity prices are supporting a high growth wind energy market.
Some experts believe Turkey’s wind market may add 500-1,000 MW per year reaching more than 5 GW by 2015. It is estimated Turkey will install up to 20 GW by 2023, helping the country to source 30 percent of its electricity generation from renewable forms of energy by that time.
Steve Lockard, CEO of TPI Composites said;
We are excited to take this next step in our company’s growth by partnering with ALKE to expand our global operations into Turkey. With its strong industrial and manufacturing base, Turkey will serve as an excellent hub for our eastern European operations. As the first merchant wind blade supplier in Turkey, we intend to partner with leading customers in the region to provide advanced, high-quality, cost-effective wind blades.
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