New Reform and Investment Era in Energy

Speaking at the opening of the “Energy Strategies Conference” organized by the Turkish Electricity Industry Association (TESAB), Minister Bayraktar made statements on Türkiye's energy policies, supply security, reducing foreign dependency and the road map to be followed to combat climate change.

3 Key Points in Energy

Stating that they aim to provide citizens with uninterrupted, high quality and cheap energy, Bayraktar said: “Türkiye needs to combat external dependency while ensuring energy supply security. By 2053, that is, in less than 30 years, Türkiye has the goal of becoming a carbon- neutral economy. Therefore, we have 3 main focal points.”

Increase in Energy Demand

Pointing out that Türkiye's energy demand, especially in electricity, will increase in the future as it has in the past, Bayraktar said: “As Türkiye produces, as Türkiye's economy and industry grows, energy demand and electricity demand will also increase. According to our optimistic estimates, we predict that the demand for electricity will be 510 terawatt hours in 2035.” Stating that the energy bill was 96.5 billion dollars in 2022 and around 70 billion dollars last year, Bayraktar said that they expect it to be at a similar rate this year.

Target of Reducing Foreign Dependency with Renewable Energy

Mentioning that out that 66-67 percent of energy in Türkiye is imported, Bayraktar emphasized that they are developing policies to reduce foreign dependency and pointed to renewable energy resources. Stating that renewable energy resources in Türkiye should be included in the economy mas soon as mpossible in an environmentally friendly manner, Bayraktar said: “In the coming period, we aim to develop the field of renewable energy in a much stronger and faster way.”

II. National Energy Efficiency Action Plan

Drawing attention to energy efficiency on the one hand, Bayraktar stated that the Second National Energy Efficiency Action Plan covering the years 2024-2030 includes very ambitious targets. Stating that the target is to save approximately 16 percent of primary energy, Bayraktar said, “We have an investment target of 20 billion dollars in the coming period. As a result of all these, when we achieve these targets, Türkiye will be saved from approximately 100 million tons of carbon emissions.”

Nuclear Target in Türkiye

Bayraktar emphasized that Türkiyemust have an installed capacityof 20 thousand megawatts in nuclear power in order to reach its climate targets by 2050. Bayraktar said, “We need to realize Sinop next to Akkuyu, Thrace next to Sinop, large-scale power plants, and put these projects into operation. But in additionto these, we need to complete Türkiye's development in this field by commissioning small modular reactors.”

Strong Infrastructure in Energy

Pointing to localization in the production of equipment for energy projects, Bayraktar emphasized that Türkiye's energy infrastructure will be strengthened in this way. Bayraktar said, “We aim for a Türkiye that strengthens its infrastructure in all these areas inthe energy sector. In particular, our transmission networkand distribution network, which constitute the backbone of our energy sector, must become much stronger and meet the increasing demand and need. Here, we need a very important change of mentality, a paradigm shift.”

Call to Investors

Bayraktar said that Türkiye has an installed capacity of approximately 30 thousand megawatts in renewable energy, especially in solar and wind, and that there is also 80 thousand megawatts of capacity allocatedto investors. Statingthat an important project stock is in the hands of investors, Bayraktar said, “My expectation from investors is to turn this capacity into investment in the fastest way possible. If we realize these 80 thousand megawatts in the next five years, six years, seven years, that is, within the certain periods we have given them, we will actually be able to build almost 8 to 10 thousand megawatts of renewable power every year, that is, the installed power of a country in Europe, in just one year.”

Improvement in Permission Processes

Statingthat Türkiye has entered a new period of reformand investment, Bayraktar said: “One of the most important reforms is to improve the permitting process. We aim to bring this to the agenda of our Parliament in a very short time, hopefully within this year, and to organize it in such a way that our investors will no longer have any excuses in this sense.”

New YEKA Tenderfor 2035

Announcing that the process for a new YEKA tender for 2035 will start soon, Bayraktar said, “We have ambitious targets for 2035. A process in which we will commission 2000-2500 megawatts of additional wind and solar power every year awaits us. In October, we will hopefully share with the public the 2035 strategy, in which we will share our strategies in renewable energy in more detail and address all areas.”