State-run bank to lend power to municipalities

ANKARA - Anatolia News Agency

DHA photo

Local governments in Turkey will be able to produce their own electricity by transforming lighting, refinement and other systems into renewable energy with the support of İller Bank, a Turkish investment and development bank.

The bank is granting the facilities and services of municipalities loans for lightning of all kinds as well as the customization of urban decorative lighting systems in line with renewable energy sources.

During the first month of the implementation alone, 20 local governments, including some district municipalities from Istanbul, applied to the bank for their projects.

“Since a substantial part of Turkey’s trade deficit is due to a dependence on energy imports, renewable energy usage is unavoidable,” said Erdinç Kapusuz, the Renewable Energy Project Manager in Iller Bank’s Project Department.

The bank aims to solve the energy problems of local governments by encouraging hydraulic, wind, solar and geothermal energy alternatives with the help of its knowledge regarding the foreign implementation of these systems. The bank will provide free consultancy for the projects and evaluate them based on their applicability.

Kapusuz also highlighted the fact that street and city lighting will fall under the responsibility of municipalities from 2015, which will add an extra financial burden to local administrations.

The bank is trying to address the problems of local governments in the fields they need support in the most, he said. “We’ve prepared technical infrastructure, regulations and specifications to supply consultancy on every stage of the projects. We consider heat pumps especially important as they can be applied and used anywhere in Turkey. These systems have been acknowledged and utilized worldwide.”

Local governments can use the loans supplied by Iller Bank for the lighting of parks, gardens, streets, municipality culture centers, social facilities, car parks, signals and security systems, as well as advertisement boards, bus stops and gas stations, Kapusuz said.