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Alparslan Bayraktar, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, announced that they will shorten the authorisation processes in mines. Emphasising that it takes 13 years for a metallic mine site to be put into production, Minister Bayraktar said, ‘We aim to increase legal reliability and predictability, improve the investment environment by shortening the permit processes, reduce the current account deficit with new reserve discoveries and ensure the supply security of our country in strategic and critical mines.’

Article by Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of the Republic of Türkiye, H.E. Alparslan Bayraktar for Türkiye Today

Alparslan Bayraktar, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, shared the roadmap for 2035 in renewable energy with global investors and financial institutions in London, the capital of England. Noting that they plan to increase the capacity, which is 30 gigawatts in wind and solar energy, to 120 gigawats within the scope of the roadmap, Minister Bayraktar said, "I believe that we will bring great financing opportunities to our country in the coming period."

A strategic cooperation in the field of energy was reached between Türkiye and the United Kingdom. During the contacts of the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Alparslan Bayraktar in London, he met with Ed Miliband, Secretary of State of Energy Security and Net Zero of the United Kingdom. At the meeting, it was decided to start the Energy and Climate Dialogue between the two countries. Türkiye implemented a similar dialogue mechanism with the USA in May.

At the 29th Conference of the Parties (COP29) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, held in Baku, Azerbaijan, the significance of nuclear energy in achieving the 2050 net zero target was strongly emphasized. Last year, at COP28 in Dubai, the United States launched the “Declaration to Triple Nuclear Energy,” with leading nuclear countries such as France, Japan, and South Korea among the signatories. This year, six additional countries signed the declaration, including Türkiye.

Türkiye and Kyrgyzstan will develop projects in the fields of energy efficiency and energy saving, especially renewable energy. 

The announcement of the tender in the Renewable Energy Resource Area (YEKA) for solar energy was published in the Official Gazette shortly after the announcement for wind energy. The announcement published for 6 projects in 6 provinces in solar energy covers a total capacity of 800 megawatts. Alparslan Bayraktar, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, stated that they have published the YEKA announcement in solar energy after wind and said that they will reach 120 thousand megawatts of solar and wind installed capacity by 2035. 

After the Oruç Reis Research Ship started seismic exploration in Somalia in the east of Africa, an agreement was signed with Senegal in the west of the continent. With the agreement, Türkiye and Senegal will cooperate in the fields of energy, oil and natural gas.

New tender period has started in renewable energy. Renewable Energy Resource Area (YEKA) tender announcement was published in the Official Gazette. The announcement published for 5 projects in 3 provinces in wind energy has a total capacity of 1,200 megawatts. Alparslan Bayraktar, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, stated that they will hold at least 2 thousand megawatts of YEKA tenders every year and said that they will commission these capacities quickly.

Türkiye will cooperate with Niger, an African country with rich reserves in the field of mining, on mineral exploration and exploitation. 

Türkiye, which has the world's second largest reserves of rare earth elements in a single area, has signed an important agreement with China, which has a serious technological accumulation in this field. The “Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in Natural Resources and Mining” was signed by the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Alparslan Bayraktar and his Chinese counterpart Wang Guanghuatar. Commenting on the agreement, Minister Bayraktar said, “We aim to advance our cooperation in all areas of mining, especially in critical minerals in Türkiye.” 

Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Alparslan Bayraktar said that Türkiye has the potential to commission 8-10 thousand megawatts of installed capacity annually in renewable energy. Emphasizing that 80 thousand megawatts of capacity allocation has been made for investors and that improvements will be made in permit processes, Bayraktar said, “Türkiye is entering a new period of reform and investment. At the top of our reforms is especially the improvement of permit processes. We plan to bring it to the agenda of our Parliament hopefully within this year.

Türkiye continues to take steps to expand its natural gas supply range. A new one has been added to the agreements previously signed with 3 global companies. During the visit of Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Alparslan Bayraktar to the USA, BOTAŞ and TotalEnergies signed a 10-year LNG agreement. With the agreement, Total will supply a total of 16 LNG cargoes of approximately 1.6 billion cubic meters per year starting in 2027. BOTAŞ will be able to take delivery of some of the LNG from the filling ports in the US and some from terminals in Türkiye and Europe.

Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Alparslan Bayraktar described the natural gas coming to Türkiye from different sources and stored in Türkiye as the Turkish Blend and announced that they will be able to export it to European markets with the provision of the necessary infrastructure.

Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Alparslan Bayraktar stated that 600 liras of a thousand lira electricity and natural gas bill is covered by the state and said, “We are considering a model in which our lower income citizens, pensioners benefit from this support, and citizens whose consumption is above a certain rate meet the real costs instead of benefiting from these support mechanisms.”