A United Arab Emirates firm controlled by the country’s national security adviser has bought a 50% stake in a Turkish company with links to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, marking the first major deal between the countries since a thawing of relations.
KARAPINAR, TURKEY : An employee works to install new solar panels at the Kalyon Energy’s Karapinar Solar Power Plant on December 02, 2021 in Karapinar, Turkey. Kalyon is building Turkey’s largest solar panel plant currently operating at 44 percent capacity.
The 1.35 gigawatts (GW) Karapinar solar project will deliver clean electricity to approximately two million Turkish households when completed in late 2022. In October, Turkey ratified the Paris Climate Agreement, becoming the last country in the G-20 group to do so and setting an aim for net-zero emissions by 2053 and a focus on new climate initiatives. However, gas and coal continue to be the primary fuel sources in the energy sector, forcing the government to shift towards renewables, such as geothermal, hydropower, wind and solar energy.
Over recent years, Turkey has increased installed capacity of renewable sources of energy as it endeavors to cut its near total dependence on imported petroleum products. Oil and gas imports, much of which are used to generate electricity, have become a significant strain on foreign exchange reserves especially as the country deals with a dire economic crisis with the Turkish lira losing more than 40 percent of its value against the U.S dollar this year.
However according to Turkey’s Energy and Natural Resources Minister Fatih Donmez, Turkey’s power capacity in renewable energy reached approximately 53,000 megawatts at the end of October, and, on November 11, electricity production from wind power hit a historic daily record, generating 20.1 percent of total power. Turkey’s renewable energy capacity is predicted to grow by 50 percent from 2021 through 2026, according to a recent report by the International Energy Agency (IEA).
Source: Bloomberg
