What can Turkey Learn from Other Wind Energy Firms ?”

Yet another Energy Conference was held in Istanbul, called Wind Summit Turkey on November 11 and 12. The conference, organized by Investment Support and Promotion Agency (ISPAT) of Turkey in partnership with ICSME from China, Noppen from Shangai, and Eurosolar Turkey, was held at Hyatt Hotel .

There were close to 50 participants from Government Institutions, Universities, Turkish Wind Energy Association Wind Energy Investors and Businesssman’s Association, including Secretary Metin Atamer, and representatives of private companies and Tanay Uyar, the President of Eurosolar Turkey and also the moderator of the Summit.

There were close to 20 presentations on various aspects of wind energy developments in Turkey with with emphasis on investment and technology and some reference to Solar Energy also. During the first day, presentations covered wind energy developments worldwide and wind farms in Turkey, foreign direct investment and wind energy regulations. Suzlon representative in Turkey spoek about wind energy in Turkey from Suzlon’s point of view, a manufacturer of wind turbines..

The second day presentations included lessons learned and Chief Business Development Officer of EDP Renovavels spoke on ”What can Turkey Learn from Other Wind Energy Firms”. He presented the following table on the installed capacity of wind power plants in various Europen countries as of end of 2009:

Germany 25,777 MW

Spain 19,140 MW

France 4,402 MW

Denmark 3,452 MW

Portugal 3,535 MW

Greece 1,087 MW

Turkey 880 MW (Approximate. Turkey was not included in the table, but in 2010 the figure is over 1,200 MW)

Metin Atamer, who has been involved in reneweable energy for 17 years (that magic number) since 1993, spoke about ”Deviation from the Renewables” and stated that there are many issues in the sector. Metin Atamer is considered one of the pioneers in the wind energy sector in Turkey and has interest in several operating wind power plants, including the 36.4 MW İntepe project near Canakkale.. He critized the postponement of the new Renewables Law for a third time which was discussed in the Parliament last week, lamenting that all of their efforts have gone down the drain. He outlined the steps that should be taken in order to advance the development of new wind power plants in Turkey including overcoming the official formalities and increasing the transmission line capacities. Atamer also discussed a suggested action plan for renewables to include the following steps:

1. Establish targets for 2020

2. Establish strategy for the target

3. Action items

At the end of his presentation, Atamer mentioned that he has written a book on Turkey which includes some of the problems that he faced in the energy sector, showing a copy of ”Memleketim Uzerine.”

There were also presentations on the technical aspects of current turbine design and the local manufacture of components for wind power equipment. Soyut, a local manufacturer of small wind turbines with plans for larger turbines had a stand. Tibet Makine had an excellent presentation with a video showing the history of the company and manufacture of bearings sold in Turkey and Europe as well. The establishment of local industry that manufactures steel towers, turbines and many components for the wind power plants is very important and it is pleasing to see the advancement in this area.

Notes. Other energy conferences, symposiums and meetings held recently included, InternationaI Energy Congress, Ankara, Oct 21-22, 2010, Waste Technology Sympoisum, İstanbul, November 4-5, 2010. (2) A Summit book was distributed which includes all of the presentations.

By Yüksel Oktay