The 15th IICEC Energy and Climate Forum was held. Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Alparslan BayraktarTurkey’s energy transformation was one of the main topics at the event attended by . Bayraktar, who took the stage, emphasized the energy transformation of our country in his speech and shared with the audience new data regarding the decrease in foreign dependency in energy.
Turkey’s dependence on foreign energy is decreasing
Minister of Energy and Natural Resources speaking at the 15th IICEC Energy and Climate Forum alparslan Bayraktar, pointed out that energy transformation should be flexible, sensitive and inclusive. “This transformation is a digital energy transformation,” said Bayraktar, and energy policies; He underlined that they shaped their products according to the 2053 net zero emission target by contributing to global supply diversity and reducing foreign dependency, without compromising supply security.
Stating that the National Balance Table was recently published, Bayraktar also shared with the audience an important data about foreign dependency in energy. Accordingly, Turkey’s foreign dependence on energy decreased to 67.8 percent in 2022. Bayraktar said that this amount has increased to 70 percent over the years and emphasized that it is important that the rate in 2022 is below 70 percent. Turkey’s goal with the national energy plan is to save itself from foreign dependency and become a net-zero emission country in the next 30 years.
They could not commit to phasing out coal
Speaking at the forum, Minister Bayraktar talked about the United Nations Climate Change Conference held in Dubai (COP28) pointing out, “All countries pushed their conditions to combat climate change, but could not commit to neither coal nor wholesale hydrocarbons. “To a large extent, supply security concerns and the development goals of developing countries once again became the main determinant here.” said.
Emphasizing that nuclear energy came to the fore at COP28, Minister Bayraktar said, “We witnessed the birth of a new nuclear era. “An initiative was launched by 22 countries to triple the current installed capacity in nuclear energy by 2050 and a joint declaration was published.” he said.
BayraktarStating that at COP28, the goal of tripling the renewable energy capacity on a global scale by 2030 compared to the 2022 level and increasing energy efficiency improvements from 2 percent annually to 4 percent by 2030 was announced, he said, “With the issue of critical minerals, mines for energy conversion should also be used.” “We saw that it has entered the COP 28 agenda well.” he said.
Bayraktar said that transmission constraints constitute a significant obstacle for energy transformation and therefore there are many areas in need of development and added: “This is exactly why, as Turkey, we believe in a smart energy transformation for a successful energy transformation. In other words, a more rational, flexible, sensitive, inclusive and digital energy transformation.” said.
Bayraktar explained that they see the strengthening of electricity networks as an indispensable element of green transformation in energy and said, “In this context, we aim for a mega transmission system that has high interconnection capacity with our neighbors and can handle the rapid increase in renewable capacity. In this context, we plan to invest 10 billion dollars by 2030.” he said.
Bayraktar said that energy efficiency is an issue at the center of energy transformation and said, “In this context, we will share the Second Energy Efficiency Action Plan, which will cover the 2024-2030 period, with the public in January. “We aim to reduce emissions by a total of 100 million tons in the second plan period.” said.
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