Turkey's Kardemir Çelik secures $18.3 million Chinese loan for solar plants
What's the deal? Turkish steelmaker Kardemir Çelik has received approval for an $18,275,000 debt facility from Sinosure, China's state-owned export and credit insurance corporation. The financing will fund two solar power projects in Van and Muş provinces.
Why now? The loan approval came on September 29, 2026, and marks a concrete step for projects already listed in the company's initial public offering prospectus. Kardemir plans to complete and commission the solar plants within roughly seven months.
What's the endgame? The projects include a 9.5MW plant in Muş Bulanık and a 23.50MW plant in Van Özalp Dibekli. Once live, they are expected to cover 10% of the company's total electricity consumption.
Kardemir, which exports to 110 countries, already operates 24.7MW of renewable and recovery-based capacity, including wind, solar, and a waste-heat recovery system. It aims to raise total installed capacity to 71.9MW with further solar, wind, and hybrid projects in İzmir.
What they're saying: "We see the energy transition as an important part of our competitiveness," said board member Özlem Bakırel (translated from Turkish). She framed energy efficiency and low-carbon production as increasingly decisive for the steel sector's future.
The signal: The deal shows energy-intensive manufacturers turning to renewables to cut both costs and emissions, with Chinese state financing underwriting that shift. For a steelmaker positioning itself on low energy use and carbon output, the solar investment doubles as a hedge on competitiveness in export markets.
Read more: ticaretgazetesi.com.tr
Image credit: davelauretti
