Germany and Türkiye plan to increase cooperation on renewable forms of energy, German Vice-Chancellor and Economy and Climate Minister Robert Habeck told the German-Turkish Energy Forum in Berlin on Wednesday.
"The time for action has come," Habeck, a member of the Greens, and his party's chancellor candidate was quoted as saying by Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa).
"We have made great progress over recent years, and Türkiye has big plans for decarbonizing its industry," he added.
Engaging in constructive dialogue, particularly in challenging times as these, was important, Habeck said.
Germany had to diversify its economic and trade relations, he said. "This is the lesson that Germany has learned from the Russian invasion of Ukraine."
Praising Türkiye as a partner in trade and energy and emphasizing its geographical advantage and energy potential, he stressed the importance of leveraging shared experiences and advancing collaborative projects through established frameworks.
"Türkiye is one of the major countries with which we want to establish more trade and energy partnerships," Anadolu Agency (AA) cited him as saying.
Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar, on the other hand, also said energy was one of the most important aspects of cooperation between the two countries. He proposed extending the cooperation to the minerals sector.
Türkiye is aiming to become a carbon-neutral economy within 30 years, Bayraktar said, highlighting the country's renewable goals and energy transformation.
"This is a more difficult target than the others because it will actually affect the whole economy ... Our carbon target is an area that will transform energy from the ground up," Bayraktar said.
Bayraktar announced plans for $100 billion in renewable energy investments by 2035, calling on experienced and new German investors to partner in Türkiye's energy transition. He highlighted the country's road map to expand wind and solar energy capacity from the current 31,000 megawatts (MW) to 120,000 megawatts by 2035.
Addressing nuclear energy's role in decarbonization, Bayraktar said Türkiye aims to develop its nuclear capacity by 2050. He said with the opening of the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant in the south, Türkiye will meet 10% of its electricity needs from nuclear energy.
Germany in recent years has also built upon its green ambitions to enhance energy efficiency by introducing initiatives such as refurbishing buildings and promoting plug-in-solar systems on people's balconies, while aiming to generate more electricity from renewable sources, such as wind and solar power.
However, unlike many other developed economies and European peers, the country last year shut down three remaining nuclear power plants through a decision that came following the Fukushima disaster in Japan.
Before the Russian-Ukrainian war, Europe's largest economy relied largely on gas imports from Russia and had faced an energy crisis afterward while looking to diversify its energy mix and supply.
Following the ceremony, Bayraktar and Habeck held bilateral talks and participated in a roundtable with energy executives.
As part of the meetings, several agreements were signed, including partnerships for wind turbine installations and joint research.
German wind turbine company Enercon and Turkish project developers Iş Enerji and Polat Enerji confirmed plans to supply and install turbines of up to 2,500 megawatts for wind farms in Türkiye and other countries in the region, the dpa report said.
The two countries have been working together on the energy transition since 2013 with a focus on renewable energies, energy efficiency and green hydrogen.
