ANKARA
The amount of electricity Turkey imports from Iran, Bulgaria and Greece increased 63 percent in the first two months of 2014 compared to the same period a year earlier.
Turkey spent $110.5 million for 1.4 billion kilowatt-hours. Turkey spent $334 million on electricity in the whole of 2013, with more than half of it ($180 million) coming from Bulgaria.
In 2014, Turkey’s electricity imports have risen due to lower than expected rains in winter and spring, as a result hydropower plants did not meet their goal of providing a quarter of Turkey's electricity.
Turkey heavily relies on foreign energy resources, such as natural gas and oil, which drive almost half of all electricity production in Turkey and costs up to $60 billion a year.
The government aims to diversify energy resources and has plans for two nuclear power plans, one in Mersin on the Mediterranean coast and another in Sinop on the Black Sea coast.
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