Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Alparslan Bayraktar, in his speech at the "1st Innovation, Dissemination and Entrepreneurship Days in the Electricity Distribution Sector" organized in cooperation with the Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EPDK) and the Electricity Distribution Services Association (Elder), stated that the world is facing the biggest energy crisis of modern times and said that the uninterrupted, reliable and cost-effective supply of energy is not only an economic issue but also a security issue.
Bayraktar explained that Türkiye brought its own oil and natural gas to the economy, expanded its renewable energy capacity, incorporated nuclear energy into the system and used its energy efficiently.
Emphasizing that the common purpose of these studies is to meet Türkiye's energy needs safely and economically, to permanently increase the welfare of citizens by reducing foreign dependency, and to implement policies in line with Türkiye's climate goals, Bayraktar said:
"However, we now know that independence in energy cannot be achieved only by having resources or increasing production capacity. We also need to be able to use the energy we produce at the right time, in the right place and in the most efficient way. For this, we need a strong electrical infrastructure, smart grids, technologies and qualified human resources. Our goal of complete independence in energy requires us to transform the whole system together, from production to transmission, from distribution to consumption."
100 BILLION DOLLAR INVESTMENT IN ELECTRICITY TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION INFRASTRUCTURE
Bayraktar stated that the work on the new energy architecture extending to 2040 has come to an end, taking into account the global developments in the field of energy and Türkiye's future needs, and said, "We will share our National Energy 2040 vision with the public with a launch we will hold in Istanbul on November 5. We are entering a new era in which the use of electricity will increase in all areas of our economy, from industry to transportation, from buildings to agriculture. The spread of electric vehicles, electrification of production processes, artificial intelligence applications and the growth of data centers will increase both the amount and the amount of electricity demand." It will also change its quality.” he said.
Stating that we will have to produce more electricity and manage electricity in a more smart, flexible, efficient and digital system in the future, Bayraktar said, "For this reason, we are preparing our energy policies according to the needs of the new world. As the number of solar and wind power plants increases, electric vehicles become widespread and the electricity need of our industry grows, our networks and infrastructure need to keep up with this change. Therefore, we cannot evaluate energy transformation only through power plant investments. We need to develop our transmission and distribution infrastructure, storage capacity, digital technologies and system management ability together. National "We foresee an investment of approximately 100 billion dollars in our electricity transmission and distribution infrastructure within the scope of Energy 2040." he said.
Bayraktar emphasized that electricity distribution, in addition to being a technical service area, is one of the most basic elements that ensure the normal flow of production, development and daily life, and said that the responsibilities of the distribution sector will increase in the coming period.
Pointing out that new industrial zones, growing cities, electric vehicles, rooftop solar energy systems and the development of the digital economy will reveal new needs in distribution networks, Bayraktar said, "It is not possible to meet these needs by simply adding additional lines and transformers to the existing infrastructure. We need to transition our networks to a structure that can monitor real-time, predict demand accurately, respond to malfunctions faster and use existing capacity more efficiently. In other words, the new era in electricity distribution is the era of smarter, more flexible and more durable networks as well as stronger networks." "Digitalization is one of the most important tools of this transformation." made his assessment.
Bayraktar underlined that the development of domestic software and its widespread use throughout the sector is an important part of the energy transformation and said, "We believe that the budgets provided by EMRA to distribution companies for R&D activities make significant contributions to the development and implementation of domestic solutions in the field. In our National Energy 2040 new energy architecture, we want to see domestic software developed and widely used in many areas of our electricity distribution infrastructure and become protected against cyber attacks." he said.
TARGET TO INCREASE THE SHARE OF ELECTRICITY IN GLOBAL FINAL ENERGY CONSUMPTION TO 35 PERCENT BY 2035
Emphasizing that Türkiye sees COP31 as an important opportunity to transform the targets set in the fight against climate change into concrete investments, projects and international cooperation, Bayraktar said, "We argue that climate commitments should not remain just in words, but should be implemented with global joint action. In this context, one of the most important initiatives we will lead at COP31 is Global Electrification, which aims to increase the share of electricity in global final energy consumption to 35 percent by 2035." There will be commitment.” he said.
Bayraktar emphasized that Turkey has made significant progress in electrification and stated that a strong infrastructure is needed to achieve the goal in this regard.
Stating that one of the main agenda items of energy transformation in Türkiye's COP31 agenda will be the strengthening of electrical networks, Bayraktar said:
"In this context, we aim to develop international cooperation on the modernization and digitalization of distribution networks, the integration of renewable energy sources into the system and the financing of network investments. As Turkey, our goal is not only to prepare our own energy infrastructure for the future, but also to contribute to the acceleration of electrification and network investments on a global scale. In this process, we want to make the experience of our electricity distribution sector, the technologies it has developed and its innovative applications more visible internationally. We have started to see examples of this, and our distribution companies have started their important activities abroad."
