Turkey will announce details within a few weeks on mini renewable energy resources zone (YEKA) tenders that will be held in the first quarter of 2020, the energy minister said yesterday.
During the 10th Turkey Energy Summit in Antalya, Dönmez said Turkey's energy sector is experiencing significant changes through privatization and in its focus on renewable and domestic production.
He explained that the public sector holds 20% of the total installed power capacity and 15% of total production, but added that privatization would continue for state-owned small hydroelectric power plants. In the coming decade, the YEKA tenders will also play an important role in expanding the country's renewable capacity. Turkey plans to boost its wind and solar capacity by 10,000 megawatts (MW) each over the coming decade through YEKA tenders, he said. The share of domestic and renewable energy resources for electricity generation will be more than 50%, he added. This share has already increased due to the abundance of rainfall last year, but renewable energy plants that were commissioned also contributed to this rise, he explained.
LNG and Turkey
Dönmez said the share of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the global gas market has increased since the beginning of the 2000s. "It has a significant share of the total gas market, especially in island nations where using LNG is a technical necessity," he said. However, this global trend is also extending to Turkey, which has acquired four LNG terminals that serve the country's needs during peak consumption periods.
"Turkey is a lucky country due to its location because it is advantages both in terms of proximity to pipelines and proximity to LNG producing countries," he explained.
Turkey has technically seen the LNG gasification capacity of 30 billion cubic meters per year. "Our annual natural gas consumption is 50 billion cubic meters. LNG can meet half of this thanks to LNG infrastructure investments. We have reduced the share of pipe gas, which was over 90% in the past, to 50%," he stressed.
