Caspian Report - Issue: 08 - Fall 2014

Foreign sources provide 70 per cent of
Turkish energy supply comes from, notably
oil and gas. The country is therefore heavily
dependent on external suppliers: more than
90 per cent for its oil and close to 100 per
cent for gas.
INTRODUCTION
As an emerging economy, currently
ranked seventeenth in the world,
Turkey’s energy demand has been
rapidly increasing, and consequently
so has its import dependence. Foreign
sources provide 70 per cent of
Turkish energy supply comes from,
notably oil and gas. The country is
therefore heavily dependent on external
suppliers: more than 90 per
cent for its oil and close to 100 per
cent for gas. However, Turkey possesses
enormous potential in its renewable
energy resources. It has already
begun utilising this potential
where economically and technologically
possible, particularly for the
promotion of wind, geothermal and
solar energy. Hydropower, notably,
has been a source of power for decades.
Since 2000, the share of these
non-traditional renewable sources
in Turkish total energy consumption
has been gradually increasing,
though not at the rate required
to meet market demand. To this
end, Turkey has declared a decisive
target for 2023: renewable energy
sources will account for 30 per cent
of total electricity generation. In order
to achieve this goal, Turkey has
taken a number of initiatives, such
as enacting legislation, subsidising
private investors and promoting
awareness of renewable energy
across the country.
In addition to official government
goals for renewables, the motto
of ‘green energy’ has already been
adopted by the Turkish private sector,
which has been recently trying
to disseminate this concept in order
to increase business opportunities
in this promising field. Furthermore,
the awareness of environmental protection
is rapidly growing among the
Turkish public; they are much more
concerned about the climate change
and its dramatic consequences than
they were in the past. Thus, the issues
around the high level of dependence
on foreign fossil fuels and
environmental protection together
with private business interests have
been pushing the Turkish government
and its industry to produce
and implement more pro-renewable
policies.
POTENTIALS AND CURRENT USES
OF RENEWABLES
Although Turkey is not a rich country
in terms of fossil fuels, it possesses
remarkable renewable energy
resources such as hydropower,
solar, geothermal and wind energy.
In terms of global rankings, Turkey
115
CASPIAN REPORT, FALL 2014