Local community raises concerns around wind energy project in Turkey; incl. company responses 

The Goldstandard registered Çeşme Wind Power Project, located on a peninsular close to Izmir in Turkey, was initiated by the Turkish energy company Vega Wind Energy Electricity Generation Inc. (formerly ABK Energy) and supplied with wind turbines by German company Nordex SE. The Turkish company Life Climate and Energy Limited (Life Enerji) provides consultancy services.

According to the local community the project was implemented without adequately consultating local stakeholders and landowners, and those opposing the project have allegedly faced harassment via local/regional media and courts. The community has filed several (ongoing) complaints against the project including at local and administrative courts as well as the Supreme Court of Turkey, however construction continued. In 2015, the German National Contact Point accepted partial responsibility for an OECD complaint filed against Nordex, following which the company agreed to improve its due diligence process (the case was also covered in this 2017 Germanwatch report). In April 2019, the community also submitted a letter to Goldstandard alleging non-compliance. Goldstandard has openend a formal investigation.

In August 2019, Business & Human Rights Resource Centre reached out to Vega Wind Energy Electricity Generation Inc., Life Enerji and Nordex SE asking them to respond to a summary of the project published on Banktrack’s website, according to which the community’s concerns are still ongoing. Wind Energy Electricity Generation Inc. in its response maintains that all its activities are conducted in compliance with the law and meet human rights and environmental requirements. Their full response, as well as responses from Life Enerji and Nordex SE, are available below.

• Banktrack profile – ABK Cesme Wind Turkey

• Response by Nordex SE, 2 September 2019 – “The Nordex Group in general doesn’t comment on ongoing court proceedings until the results are known. Furthermore, we would like to stress that we are not part to the ongoing court proceedings related to the ABK Cesme project. However, we will monitor the further development of the court proceedings, in order to establish to what extent their outcome may affect our business activities.”

• Response by Life Enerji, 6 September 2019 – “We don’t have any influence over the process and decision of the company.”

• Response by Vega Wind Energy Electricity Generation (formerly ABK Energy), 9 September 2019

• Community responds to Vega Wind Energy Electricity Generation’s answer, 7 October 2019: Cesme Platform for Sustainability

• Reply by Vega Energy to the community’s rejoinder, 8 October 2019: Vega Wind Energy Electricity Generation – “As we have said in our previous statement, the Wind Power Plant as owned by our company is one which is entirely legal and for which all permissions have been obtained under the laws of the Republic of Turkey. The lawsuit filed against the environmental impact report by the relevant people has been concluded in our favour by the local administrative courts and the Council of State of the Republic of Turkey. Efforts made by these locals who want to zone this area for construction, thus tuning the area into a heap of concrete have ended up in disappointment once again. This is our last reply on the matter. Best regards. Vega Rüzgar, Enerjisi Elektrik Üretim A.Ş.”

• Our response to Vega Energy letter, 27 October 2019: Cesme Platform for Sustainability