Turkish energy and construction conglomerate Kalyon next month will start commissioning of its 1GW solar plant in Konya, central Turkey, the country's energy ministry has said.

The firm each month will bring on line 40MW starting from September until the plant reaches capacity by 2023. First units previously were expected to be connected in June, having been brought forward from an earlier expectation of a commissioning in 2021.

Panels for the Konya Karapinar unit will come from Kalyon's solar manufacturing facility, which was launched yesterday in Ankara. The first 500MW must be built with 60pc locally made components, in line with the rules of a tender in which Kalyon secured capacity in Konya.

The 1GW project had remained inactive soon after the tender in 2017 until last year, partially because of legal and financial challenges that Kalyon faced with its former South Korean partner, Hanwha. The consortium that won the tender was dissolved in February last year, with Kalyon acquiring all of Hanwha's shares. The Kalyon-Hanwha venture had won the reverse auction by submitting the lowest bid, at $69.90/MWh, and was expected to complete construction in four and a half years.

Turkish solar capacity last month rose by 65MW to 6.23GW, growing at its fastest on a monthly basis since December.

Solar capacity is expected to expand by about 400MW in July-December, against 172MW in the first six months, amid a gradual easing of Covid-19-related supply and construction disruptions, solar association Gunder said last month.