'More loans needed for renewable investments'

ISTANBUL

Companies have been having problems with finding long-term investment loans from banks since 2017, says Ali Karaduman, the head of the Renewable Energy Research Association (YENADER).

“Hurdles before investors should be removed, otherwise we won’t be able to make the necessary investments in the years to come, which are supported to help replace fossil fuels,” Karaduman warned.

Türkiye is still highly dependent on fossil fuels, he stressed. “We need to end this dependency right now. We have to ramp up investments in this regard.”

He welcomed the government's decision to increase the size of the Credit Guarantee Fund (KGF) to 350 billion Turkish Liras ($13 billion).

“Yet, financing from the fund should be made available as soon as possible,” said Karaduman, calling for action to facilitate ramping up renewable investments.

It takes up to 36 months, including regulatory approvals, to build a power plant, according to Karaduman. “Energy investments need to be revived again.”

Renewable energy currently accounts for 55 percent of Türkiye’s 104,000 megawatts installed electricity capacity.

The country aims to boost the share of renewables in total capacity to around 65 percent by 2035. For this to happen, each year 3,000 megawatts of solar and 1,500 megawatts of wind power must come online.

The country’s electricity demand is projected to climb to 455.3 TWh (terawatt hour) in 2030 and further up to 510.5 TWh in 2035, according to the Energy Ministry. Electricity consumption fell by 1.2 percent last year from 2021 to 329 TWh.