Turkey’s electricity imports drop by 46 pct

Turkey's imports of electricity dropped by 46 percent in the first half of the year compared to the same period last year, a reduction attributable to the government's focused efforts on the development of domestic sources of energy and renewable energy resources to reduce Turkey's foreign dependency.

According to data collected from foreign trade statistics, Turkey purchased 3.5 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity from Greece, Bulgaria, Georgia and Iran during the first six months of 2015. This amount decreased by 46 percent in the first half of 2016, dropping to 1.89 billion kWh.

While Turkey paid $232 million for electricity imports in the first half of 2015, the amount paid to the aforementioned countries for electricity decreased by 61 percent in the first six months of 2016, dropping to $89 million, resulting in a savings of $142.86 million.

Bulgaria provided the highest number of kilowatts to Turkey in a single month, exporting 359 million kWh in January with a price tag of $18.9 million. Turkey purchased more electricity from Bulgaria in the first half of 2016 than any other country, importing a total of 1.45 billion kWh of electricity for $66.86 million followed by Greece, Azerbaijan and Georgia where Turkey purchased 296.88 million kWh, 72.38 million kWh and 56,676 million kWh, respectively. Turkey purchased 35,764 kWh more from Greece in that period than the year before, importing a total of 296.88 million kWh of electricity from that country for $17.43 million followed by Azerbaijan with 72.38 million kWh and Georgia with 56.68 million kWh of electricity, paying $2.86 million and $1.95 million to those countries, respectively.