The groundbreaking ceremony of the solar panel production factory to be built in Niğde by the investment of Eko Clean Energy Inc. (EkoRE) was held on 11 March 2019 with the participation of Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Fatih Dönmez. The facility, which will be established on a land of 620 decares in Bor Organized Industrial Zone, is aimed to be the first solar panel factory covering Turkey's ingot, wafer, cell and module production processes. Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony, EkoRE CEO Serhan Süzer said that they would provide 700 million USD capital inflow to Turkey with the project, moreover, R-D studies would be carried out. Stating that the area where the factory will be built is suitable for the production capacity of 2 GW, Süzer added that the production capacity can be increased to this level if necessary, and that they plan to export their production by 80% in the long term. The Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Fatih Dönmez said in his speech at the ceremony; '' Our goal is to range up to the top league in the economic sense of Turkey. The way to do this is through affordable, high quality and continuous energy supply. For this reason, in order to create a balanced energy portfolio where the whole load is distributed equally in energy, we have to use our domestic resources at the maximum level and become manageable in the sources we depend on externally. We will make Turkey a model country in the field of renewable energy. We want to have a say not only in renewable energy production but also in their technologies. The ideas developed by Turkish engineers and workers will be carried all over the world with solar panels and wind turbines stamped 'Made In Turkey'. No longer will there be imports in energy policies as much as possible. With this and such investments, Turkey will become the central country in energy technologies. Energy technologies will play a leading role in the change and transformation of the Turkish economy. ” Explaining that the steps needed to reduce both energy and technology dependencies were taken one by one, Minister Dönmez continued: “This distinguished facility will add more dynamism to the renewable energy sector and encourage similar visionary and strong projects to increase rapidly."