Solar efficiency and financial performance comparison of pv power plants for different locations in Turkey

In today's world, on the one hand, there is a grow in global energy demand, while fossil fuel prices are increasing. On the other hand, environmental concern and governmental incentives in renewable energy are gaining more importance gradually. Because of the reasons mentioned, nowadays green energy topic is being more discussed among science people, investors and many citizens from communities. PV technology is a part of green energy and investments in PV power plants are growing rapidly in Turkey and in the world. Turkish investors more focus on to establish their PV plants efficiently and obtain bonus by using more Turkish made component thanks to valid energy regulations. More researches are needed to understand if PV investments are feasible or not in Turkey. In this study, PV technology was examined to achieve results in designing unlicensed PV power plants for three different locations (Sakarya, Ankara and Gaziantep) in Turkey and compare their solar efficiency and financial outcomes. Financial modelling for three different locations highlighted following 25 years of each investment. Four main parameters such as payback time, return on investment, net present value and internal rate of return were achieved by financial models. Afterwards, these parameters were utilised to compare financial performances of power plants in Sakarya, Ankara and Gaziantep. As a result, in terms of main paramteres mentioned, for a PV power plant that has 345kW installed panel power, Gaziantep showed better financial outcome compared to Sakarya and Ankara due to longer sun hours was found by Photovoltaic Geographical Information System (JRC) Software. Keywords: PV technology, PV power plants, solar efficiency, financial modelling, payback time, return on investment, net present value, internal rate of return