Team size: three

First, can you please give us an idea of the sort of work your team has done recently?

In addition to the daily legal affairs of the Group, the following are the main projects that our team has done in 2020-2021. As you would note, over the last two years our team worked as a “law firm” in realising the biggest renewable energy deals in Türkiye and in Hungary.

In 2021, we purchased 90 percent of shares in Polat Enerji (10 percent of which was already owned by Polat Holding group) with a total installed capacity of 599 MW from public sector pension investment board of Canada and EDF energies nouvelles of France. We sold 50 percent of Adnan Polat Enerji Yatırımı which owns 100 percent of Polat Enerji, to Maxis Renewable Energy Fund, an investment fund of İşbank and negotiated the SPA and the SHA (the only outsourced project deal). We also sold five unlicensed solar power plants in Türkiye and worked on the project financing for a wind farm project in Türkiye with a total installed capacity of 110 MW.

Our team successfully negotiated wind turbine supply and installation agreements with Enercon for a wind project of 110 MW and negotiated the electrical works agreement with ABB for a wind project of 110 MW in 2020. Lastly, we are working on the capacity increases of projects in Türkiye and starting the negotiation with the suppliers for the supply of turbines.

Which recent political, economic, or regulatory changes have impacted the company and the team the most?

In the last year, the Turkish Lira depreciated “abnormally” against The US dollar which created a huge ambiguity in terms of the financings and budgeting. We revisited the This caused the company to revisit its financing arrangements especially for the projects that have financing in The US dollar and revenues in TL.

On the other hand, the energy market regulatory board of Türkiye, EMRA, changed the implementation of one of the regulations retroactively causing serious losses to all operational projects and market players. In response, we initiated lawsuits against these decisions.

How has the increasing consciousness of climate change and sustainability affected the company and your legal team’s priorities?

As a company involved only in renewable energy, climate change and sustainability are the core concerns and values of our company. At Polat Enerji, we are currently working on the alignment of all our company processes to prioritise sustainable development goals of UN Global Compact. Based on the “Green the Future” principle, we are primarily focusing on the following goals of affordable and clean energy, climate action, gender equality and responsible production and consumption.

In 2019, Polat Energy received the world’s first gender loan with Turkish company Polat Energy. The $44m loan is used to finance the construction of Türkiye’s largest wind farm.