Energy and industry ministers meet business world
ANKARA
Industry and Technology Minister Mustafa Varank and Energy and Natural Resources Minister Fatih Dönmez have met with industrialists at a consultation meeting on energy cuts.
In the meeting, which was held online on Jan. 24 and lasted for more than 3 hours, the demands and suggestions of the industrialists regarding the electricity cuts that started due to the interruption of the natural gas flow from Iran to Turkey were discussed.
In his speech at the meeting, Varank stated that both ministries are trying to plan the process effectively and efficiently, and that there will be shortterm production losses in the process, but that their priority is not to damage the machinery-equipment and to find solutions to problems such as raw material losses.
Minister Dönmez said that energy supply security is one of the areas they attach the most importance to and added that all entry points for natural gas, with the exception of Iran, are operating at full capacity.
On Jan. 24, the Energy and Natural Resources Ministry decided to cut electricity supplies to industrial zones and large factories, where nearly 10 percent of the country’s workforce is employed, for three days until tomorrow.
As droughts lowered the share of hydropower stations in the country’s power generation, more than half of the country’s electricity is produced in gas-powered plants.
Tofaş, a joint venture of Turkey’s Koç Holding and European carmaker Fiat Chrysler, was among those companies that have suspended production. Renault’s joint venture also said it would halt production at its factory in the northwestern province of Bursa.
The country’s natural gas consumption hit a daily record high of 290 million cubic meters on Jan. 20 due to cold weather conditions.
The government has pledged that households would not be affected by blackouts and restricted gas supplies.
National pipeline company Botaş announced an exemption for companies making crucial goods including medicines, milk and meat products.
In a televised interview late on Jan. 24, Dönmez said that natural gas flow from Iran was expected to resume from Jan. 31.
“Some of the industrialists wanted to stop at full capacity for a few days and then work. Some companies have energy-intensive processes, such as furnaces. We need to supply gas and electricity at a minimum level for them,” he said.
