Turkiye and Saudi Arabia are set to expand their renewable energy cooperation with an additional 3,000-megawatt agreement, bringing the total planned capacity under their projects in Turkiye to 5,000 megawatts, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said, an Anadolu report said.
Bayraktar recalled that Turkiye and Saudi Arabia had previously signed an agreement covering 2,000 MW of renewable energy projects. “We will increase this to 5,000 megawatts with a 3,000-megawatt agreement on the sidelines of the UN Climate Conference in Antalya,” said Bayraktar, according to a statement by the Energy and Natural Resources Ministry.
The minister also outlined Turkiye’s progress in energy and mining over the past 25 years, saying the country had ‘almost accomplished a century’s worth of work’ under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s leadership. “Turkiye has quadrupled its installed electricity capacity, from 32,000 megawatts to 126,000 megawatts,” he said, adding that the country had commissioned around 95,000 MW of new capacity over the past 24 years.
Bayraktar said Turkiye now has Europe’s third-largest installed electricity capacity, as well as the third-highest electricity generation and consumption, after France and Germany. He added that oil production had tripled, natural gas production had increased ninefold and mineral exports had risen tenfold. He identified energy independence as a central objective under Turkiye’s ‘Century of Turkiye’ vision. “We have a fundamental goal: to make Turkiye energy independent in the Century of Turkiye. This is, in a sense, our ultimate goal,” he said.
Bayraktar said natural gas, which was available in only five provinces in 2002, now reaches all 81 provinces. Turkiye is also expected to deliver natural gas to its 1,000th settlement this year. Domestic natural gas production in the Black Sea is expected to double this year and quadruple by 2028. “In 2028, we will meet the natural gas needs of 17 million households with our own gas from the Black Sea,” Bayraktar said.
