Strategic Partnership Between Turkey And Germany In Renewable Energy

Oct 4, 2006 - TurkishPress.com

ISTANBUL - Turkey and Germany reached an agreement in principle concerning renewable energy, Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Hilmi Guler said after a bilateral meeting with German Minister of Environment.

Two ministers met on the sidelines of a Turkish-German joint conference on "Renewable Energy in the System of Sustainable Development" in Istanbul. In the press conference following the bilateral meeting Guler said, "in the near future, both sides will gather their teams. With these teams, we will decide on the kinds of projects to undertake in the framework of strategic partnership."

Minister Guler said the cooperation will mostly cover fields such as hydraulic, biomass, energy, and wave.

Turkish minister said Turkey needs 128 billion dollar investment in energy sector until 2020, and 105 billion dollar of this investment will be in electricity production. Guler emphasized the importance of domestic resources such as coal and pointed out to the practices made under clean coal technologies. Minister said, as the government they are determined on the issue of nuclear energy. "We, as government, are environmentally conscious" said Guler and told that they are taking necessary measures to solve the waste issue. He also mentioned nuclear energy as environment friendly investment.

In relation to the substantiates in renewable energy, Minister Guler said they guarantee that the electricity produced will be bought by the sector for a 7 year period.

In the press conference, German Minister for Environment and Nuclear Safety Sigmar Gabriel said, "the aim of strategic partnership is to improve the work done on the field of renewable energy in Germany and Turkey. There will be developments affecting Turkey`s neighbours too." Sigmar Gabriel also mentioned that they are planning to put German experts in service in Turkey.

Regarding nuclear energy, Gabriel pointed out that 17 of the 25 European Union member countries, either do not use nuclear energy at all or they decided to stop using it.

"We must put our efforts in renewable energy. Instead of focusing on the disagreements, we must focus on commonalities," said German minister and added that there will not be problem in German firms to take part in tenders.