TURKEY’S ENERGY PROFILE

With a rapidly growing economy Turkey has become one of the fastest growing energy markets in the world. Turkey has been experiencing rapid demand growth in all segments of the energy sector for decades. Recent forecasts indicate that the growth trend of 6-8 % per year will prevail in the energy sector in the following years. The primary energy consumption, which reached around 92 million tons of oil equivalent (toe) in 2006 will rise to 126 million toe in 2010 and 222 million toe in 2020. The limits of Turkey’s domestic energy sources in light of its growing energy demand have resulted in dependency on energy imports, primarily of oil and gas. At present, around 30 % of the total energy demand is being met by domestic resources, while the rest is being satisfied from a diversified portfolio of imports. Turkey attaches utmost priority to further diversification of imports in both type and origin. Exploration and production activities are also being intensified in this context. Turkish energy policy has made impressive progress after the Helsinki Summit of 1999 where Turkey was declared a candidate for accession to the EU. Turkey attaches great importance to more efficient and rational functioning of the energy sector for promoting the competitiveness of the national economy. Substantial progress has been achieved in restructuring and liberalizing the Turkish electricity and gas markets in pursuance with the EU Directives for the purpose of integration with the EU Internal Energy Market, since the enactments of the Electricity and Natural Gas Market Laws in 2001. With the Petroleum and LPG Market Laws, competition oriented mechanisms has been put into place. An independent regulator, The Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EMRA) has been established to be in charge of regulation and supervision of the electricity, gas, petroleum and LPG markets. Concerning renewable energy sources, the Law on the Utilization of Renewable Energy Sources for the Purposes of Generating Electricity has been adopted in 2005 for promoting electricity production from the renewable energy sources in liberalized energy markets. In order to use energy efficiently, prevent waste, mitigate the burden of energy costs on the economy, and increase the efficieny in the use of energy resources and to protect the environment, the Energy Efficiency Law was enacted on 2 May 2007. Turkey aims at fullly utilizing its indigenous hard coal and lignite reserves, hydro and other renewable resources such as wind and solar energy to meet the demand growth in a sustainable manner. Integration of nuclear energy into the Turkish energy mix will also be one of the main tools in responding to the growing electricity demand while avoiding increasing dependence on imported fuels. Nuclear power plants corresponding to a total installed capacity of 5000 MW are expected to be commissioned after 2012.