Turkish Energy Minister Praises TANAP But Promises to Cut Gas Dependency

Turkish Energy Minister Ali Rıza Alaboyun has said that Turkey's location can ensure it plays a key role in regional energy. Speaking at the Atlantic Council Energy & Economic Summit in Istanbul, the minister pointed to the Trans-Anatolian Pipeline as evidence of the critical role Turkey can play.

"Turkey is showing how important geo-strategic location between consumers and suppliers is. The Trans-Anatolian Gas Pipeline (TANAP) is a great example. Potential gas from Iraq, Iran and the Eastern Mediterranean will contribute both to Turkey and to diversifing the sources of has to Europe."

In the same speech, Minister Alaboyun announced that Turkey is planning to increase its investment in electricity to meet the country's growing power needs. The current energy demand in Turkey, he said, increases by 7% a year. To meet that increasing demand, the country will invest $125 billion into its energy sector by 2023.

However, despite his positive words about TANAP, the minister indicated that the country is making a conscious effort to diversify away from gas for electricity generation as it increases its energy capacity. 

“Although the share of natural gas in our installed capacity is 29 percent, its share in electricity generation is 48 percent. This is an indication of our dependency on natural gas to generate electricity,” he noted. 

Currently, Turkey's energy capacity is 72,000 megawatts (MW). It plans to double that capacity to 130,000 MW by 2023.