Unlicensed generation in Turkey: remote control, SCADA and emergency instructions

This guide summarises what texts published in Turkey’s Official Gazette No. 33405 of 19 October 2026 mean for businesses with an unlicensed generation plant connected to the grid. Sources: the change to article 75 of the Electricity Market Balancing and Settlement Regulation, the change to the unlicensed generation regulation, the change to the regulation on organised industrial zones and industrial zones, and Board decision 14909 of the Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EPDK), which amends the unlicensed producer’s connection agreement. In Turkey, “unlicensed” generation is a legal category for plants, often solar, that may operate without a generation licence.

Who can receive an emergency instruction?

Under the amended second paragraph of article 75, the system operator can give emergency instructions to:

• market participants that are balancing units but submitted no bids in the balancing power market, and owners of generation plants that are not balancing units,
• market participants whose portfolio includes unlicensed plants connected to the distribution grid,
• owners of unlicensed plants connected to the transmission system,
• market participants that own standalone electricity storage facilities.

For unlicensed plants on the distribution grid, the instruction does not go to the plant owner directly but to the assigned supply company or aggregator whose portfolio holds the plant.

How the instruction reaches the site

The new fourth paragraph of article 75 sets up the chain:

1. The assigned supply company passes the instruction to the distribution company the plant is connected to, or to the organised industrial zone or industrial zone that holds a distribution licence.
2. The distribution company or zone must make sure the instruction is carried out and reports back to the assigned supply company.
3. The assigned supply company creates a single settlement unit for the unlicensed plants in its region and sends the distribution company or zone the list of plants in scope.
4. Aggregators must set up remote control for the unlicensed plants on the distribution grid in their portfolios and make sure instructions are carried out.

Order. Instructions are carried out starting with plants whose installed electrical capacity in operation is 900 kW or more, beginning with the largest. Then come plants with higher mechanical installed capacity, an earlier provisional acceptance date and an earlier connection agreement date. The order starts with the assigned supply company’s portfolio.

Remote control and restart. Under the paragraph added to article 21 of the unlicensed generation regulation, distribution companies and organised industrial zones and industrial zones with a distribution licence may control plants in this scope remotely to carry out an emergency instruction. The grid operator tells the plant owner by phone and on a durable medium within 15 minutes that the emergency is over; re-energising the plant after that notice is the owner’s responsibility.

Organised industrial zones. Under provisions added to the regulation on organised industrial zones and industrial zones, zones with a distribution licence must carry out load-reduction instructions passed on by the assigned supply company and share information on unlicensed plants in the zone with that company; if they do not, the sanctions in article 16 of the Electricity Market Law apply.

Ask your assigned supply company or aggregator, and your distribution company, in writing whether your plant is on this list.

If the instruction is not followed

Under additional article 4 of the unlicensed generation regulation, an unlicensed plant that does not follow an emergency load-reduction instruction is not paid for the generation matching the part of the instruction it did not carry out in that settlement period. The assigned supply company or aggregator sets the amount using whichever of the prices listed in the regulation applies to the plant, and collects it from the producer.

Connection agreement: apply within 60 days

Under provisional article 14 added to the unlicensed generation regulation, unlicensed producers within the scope of article 75(4) must apply to the relevant grid operator within 60 days of 19 October 2026 to have their existing connection agreements revised in line with the general terms of the Board-approved connection agreement for unlicensed producers. For a producer who does not apply in that period, the Board-approved agreement in force applies.

Contractual penalties in the connection agreement

Board decision 14909 amended article 16 of this connection agreement. The distribution company applies the penalties below after notifying the breach in writing or on a durable medium. All amounts are calculated from that month’s system usage charge, which appears on the electricity bill.

Breach	Penalty	When
Faulty SCADA or communication equipment is not repaired or replaced within one month of the distribution company’s warning, so remote monitoring or control cannot be carried out	1% of the amount calculated from that month’s system usage charge, for each day the breach continues	No deferral provision
A plant in scope does not provide remote monitoring and control (remote switch-on and switch-off) integration with the distribution company’s SCADA control centre	One month’s system usage charge for each month without the integration	Not applied until 30 April 2027
During an emergency instruction, the distribution company cannot switch the plant off remotely because of faulty SCADA or communication equipment	One month’s system usage charge per breach; the total in a single month cannot exceed three times that charge	Not applied until 30 April 2027

Where generation and consumption facilities are integrated, the integration should allow only the generation part to be controlled. The 1% daily penalty does not apply on days already penalised under the emergency-instruction rule.

What to do on site

• Confirm the scope. Keep the plant’s installed electrical capacity in operation, its connection agreement and the supply company or aggregator portfolio it belongs to in one place.
• Do not miss the 60 days. If the plant is in scope, record the application to the grid operator to revise the connection agreement as a dated task.
• Finish the integration before 30 April 2027. Ask the distribution company to confirm in writing that remote monitoring and control integration with its SCADA control centre is in place and tested.
• Track the repair deadline. When the distribution company warns of a SCADA or communication fault, the one-month period matters. Turn the warning into a work order and record the owner, the service company and the deadline.
• Plan the restart. Decide in advance who re-energises the plant, and how, when the end-of-emergency notice arrives.
• Decide who to call in advance. Keep contacts at the distribution company, the supply company or aggregator, and the SCADA service company up to date.
• Keep the documents together. The single-line diagram, details of the SCADA and communication equipment, the connection agreement and correspondence are the first documents asked for when something fails.

Carrying out the instruction is a process between the distribution company and the assigned supply company or aggregator. The site’s job is to apply on time, make sure the integration works and close fault warnings within the deadline.

Other changes in the same Official Gazette

Short summaries of other texts published in the same issue, outside the scope of this guide, are in the “Recent changes” section of Regulation and compliance.