Recent developments
The Regulation on Zoning and Permitting Procedures for Wind and Solar Power Generation Facilities (“Regulation“) is published in the Official Gazette dated 24 July 2026 and entered into force on the same date. The full text of the Regulation is available here (in Turkish).
The Regulation sets out the authority of the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources (“Ministry“) and the procedures and principles applicable to zoning plans, parcellation plans, building permits, building occupancy permits, and workplace opening and operating licences in relation to wind and solar power generation facilities holding a preliminary licence or a generation licence.
Statutory basis of the Regulation
The Regulation derives its legal basis from Supplementary Article 1 of the Law No. 5346 on the Utilisation of Renewable Energy Sources for Electricity Generation (“Law No. 5346“). Under Supplementary Article 1 of Law No. 5346, and without prejudice to the relevant provisions of the legislation listed under Article 4 of the Zoning Law No. 3194 (“Law No. 3194“), the Ministry may approve the zoning plans, parcellation plans and related amendments of wind and solar power generation facilities holding a preliminary licence or a generation licence (“Facilities“). The same provision also authorises the Ministry to issue building permits, building occupancy permits, and workplace opening and operating licences for the structures and ancillary facilities located within the Facilities.[1].
Supplementary Article 1 of Law No. 5346 also authorises the Ministry to impose the sanctions set out under Articles 32 and 42 of Law No. 3194 where construction starts without a permit in Facilities whose zoning and parcellation plans the Ministry has approved, or where construction is carried out in breach of the relevant permit.
What does the Regulation introduce?
The Regulation establishes the implementation framework for the authority granted to the Ministry under Supplementary Article 1 of Law No. 5346. In this context, it governs zoning plans, permits and licensing processes relating to the Facilities, as well as the actions that authorities may take against structures built without a permit or in breach of a permit.
1. Provisions regarding zoning and parcellation plans
a. Preparation process of the zoning plan
Pursuant to the Regulation, the prerequisite for the preparation of a zoning plan for the Facilities is the existence of geological-geotechnical surveys prepared and approved in accordance with the principles set forth by the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change (“Ministry of Environment“). It is stated that the zoning plans shall be prepared by plan authors in line with the institutional opinions and urban planning principles, in addition to the geological-geotechnical surveys.
Relevant authorities must submit their opinions on the proposed zoning plan within 30 days. If an authority does not respond within that period, the Regulation treats the absence of a response as the absence of a negative opinion. In all cases, zoning plans must comply with higher-scale planning instruments, including spatial strategy plans and environmental master plans.
The Regulation provides that the master zoning plan and implementation zoning plan processes may be conducted simultaneously and approved concurrently; and that where a detailed institutional opinion has been obtained during the preparation of the master zoning plan — provided that such opinion is up to date — it shall be possible to proceed without requesting an institutional opinion again at the implementation zoning plan stage.
The Regulation also allows zoning plans to include administrative buildings and accommodation facilities that serve the operational needs of power generation facilities, provided that the relevant plan notes expressly permit such uses. Consistent with general zoning principles, facilities may only serve the purposes specified in the approved zoning plan and may not be used for any other purpose.
b. Submission, approval, announcement and finalization process of zoning plans
The zoning plans shall be prepared in accordance with the applicable legislation and submitted to the Ministry. The Ministry will review the submitted plans and approve them if they meet the relevant requirements. The Regulation does not impose a deadline for the Ministry’s review.
As envisaged under Supplementary Article 1 of Law No. 5346, the Ministry will publish approved zoning plans on its website for 15 days. If no objections are filed during this period, the zoning plan will become final at the end of the publication period.
If an interested party submits an objection, the Ministry must review and resolve it within 15 days following the expiry of the publication period. Compared to the publication and objection procedures under the general zoning regime, the Regulation introduces a significantly faster mechanism for finalising zoning plans.
c. Submission, approval, announcement and finalization process of parcellation plans
The Regulation provides that land arrangement shall be carried out upon the finalization of the implementation zoning plan. The processes of submission, approval, announcement and finalization of the parcellation plans prepared within the scope of land and plot arrangement are subject to the same procedure as described for the zoning plans.
2. Provisions regarding building permits and building occupancy permits
a. Building permit process
To obtain a building permit, the licence holder must submit the application documents listed in Article 11 of the Regulation to the Ministry.
To demonstrate rights over the project site, the applicant must submit either a title deed, a document equivalent to a title deed, or a court order authorising possession of the relevant property issued pursuant to an urgent expropriation decision. For solar energy-based facilities, the Regulation further provides that an easement agreement or a lease agreement may be submitted in lieu of the foregoing, provided that (i) its term is no less than 10 (ten) years and is consistent with the generation licence period, and (ii) it is annotated on the land registry.
The Regulation states that the zoning status certificate, which is among the documents submitted during the building permit application, may also be issued by the Ministry upon application.
Where no deficiency or non-conformity is identified as a result of the examination of the building permit application, the building permit shall be issued within 30 (thirty) days from the date of application. The authority that issued a building permit also retains authority over any amendments or renewals relating to that permit. Consequently, applicants may apply to the Ministry for amendments or renewals only where the Ministry originally issued the building permit.
The Regulation provides that structures whose construction has not commenced within 2 (two) years from the date of the permit or has not been completed within 5 (five) years and for which the permit has not been renewed within the prescribed period shall be deemed unlicenced structures. This rule mirrors Article 29 of Law No. 3194.
b. Building occupancy permit process
Following the completion of construction, the licence holder shall request the issuance of a building occupancy permit from the Ministry, solely for structures whose building permit was issued by the Ministry. The application must be accompanied by a conformity report prepared by the technical supervisors, certifying that the structure has been built in compliance with the relevant legislation, the projects annexed to the building permit, the applicable standards, and the relevant technical, engineering and public health requirements.
If the Ministry identifies no deficiencies or non-compliance during its review, it must issue the building occupancy permit within 30 days. If the Ministry identifies any deficiencies or non-compliance, it may require the applicant to remedy them before issuing the permit.
Similar to building permits, it has been clarified that amendments to the building occupancy permit shall be made by the authority that issued the certificate, and therefore applications to the Ministry may only be made for the amendment of building occupancy permits issued by the Ministry.
c. Workplace opening and operation licence process
The Regulation allows licence holders to apply to the Ministry for a workplace opening and operating licence in accordance with the Regulation on Workplace Opening and Operating Licences enacted through Council of Ministers Decree No. 2005/9207 (“Workplace Licensing Regulation“).
If the application satisfies the relevant requirements, the Ministry must issue the licence within five days. It is noteworthy that while the draft version of the Regulation had envisaged a period of 30 (thirty) days for the issuance of the workplace opening and operation licence, this period has been reduced to 5 (five) days.
The Ministry will issue the licence based solely on the licence holder’s declarations. The licence does not create a vested right at the time of issuance. The licence becomes final following an on-site inspection conducted within 30 days after issuance. If inspectors identify any non-compliance during the inspection, the Ministry will grant the licence holder a one-off period of 15 days to remedy the relevant deficiencies. If the licence holder fails to remedy the non-compliance within that period, the licence will be revoked.
3. Ministry’s enforcement powers regarding structures built without a permit or in violation of a permit
The Regulation provides that the Ministry may take action in accordance with Articles 32 and 42 of Law No. 3194 where any of the following is established: (i) the Ministry or the technical supervisor determines that construction has commenced without a permit at facilities whose zoning plans have been approved by the Ministry, or that structures whose building permits have been issued by the Ministry are in violation of the building permit; (ii) such a situation is reported to the Ministry; or (iii) the Ministry otherwise becomes aware of such a violation. These sanctions include, among others, the revocation of the permit and the demolition of the structure. It is also stated that in the event the Ministry orders demolition, the demolition costs shall be recovered from the licence holder.
4. On-site inspection authority granted to the Ministry under the Regulation
Article 15, paragraph 3 of the Regulation authorizes the Ministry to conduct on-site inspections and investigations, and that the costs pertaining to such inspections shall be borne by the licence holder. However, the Regulation does not provide any further explanation regarding the scope of the on-site inspection authority and the purposes for which it may be exercised.
Conclusion
The Regulation centralizes a broad range of zoning, permitting and enforcement functions for wind and solar power generation facilities under the Ministry. By concentrating these responsibilities within a single authority, it seeks to reduce the coordination challenges and administrative delays that may arise when multiple public bodies are involved in planning and permitting processes. The relatively short review and decision periods prescribed under the Regulation further suggest a legislative intent to facilitate and accelerate the development of renewable energy projects.
[1] The Regulation interprets the term “wind and solar power generation facilities” in Supplementary Article 1 of Law No. 5346 broadly enough to include facilities that use wind or solar energy as an auxiliary energy source. Accordingly, the term “Facilities” in this newsletter refers to electricity generation facilities that use wind or solar energy as either their primary or auxiliary energy source.
