Turkey: Energy producers ponder moving plants abroad

As electricity generation costs grow higher in parallel to natural gas price increases, gas being the main input for most generators, energy producers in Turkey have started to seriously contemplate moving their plants to countries where natural gas is cheaper.

Murat Sungur Bursa, the president of Zorlu Holding’s energy department, said Turkey had to take immediate precautions to make investment more attractive for the private sector. Bursa emphasized that no positive step so far had been taken to improve the investment environment of the country but he stressed that the private sector plays a crucial role in battling supply shortages that may adversely hit Turkey within the next ten years.
Participants reached a consensus that an energy shortage was looming and preemptive measures had to be taken. Experts there noted that if the present tendencies were preserved and if the economy kept growing at six percent, Turkey’s electricity demand would hit 300 billion kwh by 2015. That means, starting from 2009 Turkey will be face to face with a serious electricity shortage. In figures, by 2012 there will be 40 billion kwh in excess demand yearly.
Energy Deputy Undersecretary Bekir Aksoy related the probability of facing power outages in the summer months of 2008.

Zaman