EXCLUSIVE: Turkey's electricity imports will raise energy prices

By E. Gurkan Abay & Goksel Yildirim

ANKARA

The increase of electricity imports due to drought will increase energy prices in the Turkish market, said Olgun Sakarya, the head of Energy division at Chambers of Electrical and Electronics Engineering in Turkey.

“There is a serious drop in water supplies in the dams in Turkey,” Sakarya told The Anadolu Agency, adding that "if electricity production is not supported with alternative renewable sources such as wind, solar and biomass energy, these type of problems are inevitable."

Sakarya underlined that one of the biggest problems that Turkey faces is the energy dependence on foreign imports. He said the risks of this dependence is clearer today amid tensions in the Middle East and the Caucasus.

Sakarya emphasized that Europe is focusing more on wind and solar energy each day. "Turkey needs to take urgent steps to bring these energy sources to the front," he said.

"It is quite interesting to see that Turkey is importing electricity from its neighboring countries such as Greece and Bulgaria, which has similar climate conditions," Sakarya said. He added that the works carried out in Turkey to make the energy market more liberal are not working and actually making the market structure more fragile.

"I strongly believe that the prices of electricity will rise due to this lack of electricity production and dependence on foreign imports," he said.

In 2014, Turkey’s electricity imports have risen due to lower than expected rains in winter and spring, and as a result hydropower plants did not meet their goal of providing a quarter of Turkey's electricity. 

Turkey’s 63 percent of electricity production in January came mainly from imported sources such as natural gas and coal.

Additionally, Turkey imported 604.9 million kilowatt-hour (kWh) in the same month. The country consumed almost 175 billion kWh in 2012 according to the World Bank.

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