Depending on fossil fuel for energy needs bedevils Turkey.
One alternative is to prospect for nuclear energy. The bottom line is how her
business strategy on this option fares amidst geoeconomics. Here is my
critique:
According to statista.com source of energy
generation in Turkey is skewed towards the use of fossil fuel, gas and coal.
Here is a brief sketch giving sources and the percentage of its use:
Natural gas 22.86
Coal 20.89
Hydro 20.34
Lignite (Brown Coal) 13.75
Wind 10.64
Solar 5.14
Geo-thermal 3.39
Bio & Waste 2.88
Ostensibly coal
as the source totals 34.64% something that causes worry in the admin circle. Although
Turkey is the eleventh largest producer of coal she imports about 39.3 million
metric tons. There again import of natural gas as a single item ranks first.
Moving over to nuke energy is seen as a viable
option. In May 2010 Turkey signed with Rosatom of Russia for the first such
plant to be built in Akkuyu in Mersin Province. In April 2014 the plant
commended feeding material and would be operative fully before the end of 2025.
The four reactors within the
plant is expected to produce 35,000 GWh per annum roughly about ten percent of
the current demand.
Second plant is being negotiated with Rosatom to be located in Sinop in the Black Sea Coast similar to the one in Akkuyu. In May 2014 Alparsian Bayraktar announced Turkey’s intention to go for the third plant in Thrace Region with an output of 329 GWh of energy. This time Turkey is seeking Chinese support in the construction of the third plant.
Overall output from all three plants would satisfy
about quarter of the energy needs by 2040. Hence the dependence upon fossil fuel,
gas and other thermal energy sources cannot be totally eliminated. By the way,
total energy demand that
stands around 320,000 GWh per annum today is expected to at least multiply by
two times in ten years’ time.
Even though the business strategy of opting for
nuke energy is workable in terms of domestic compulsions, the international
arena might present several road blocks in terms of geoeconomics. America for
example suggests construction of large-scale nuclear power plants with small
modular reactors (SMR). Ostensibly America is not taking kindly towards the Russian grip on Turkish Nuke energy
generation. Besides adding salt to the wound America is petrified as
regards to the recent discussion on nuclear energy entente cordiale between China
and Turkey.
Erdogan is deft at playing one against the other. He can jolly well ask America to give Turkey a plant at subsidised cost. That way he can turn out to be a magician who balances all three balls: Russia, China and America in the game of geoeconomics power play!
Cheers!
Muthu Ashraff Rajulu
Business Strategist
Mobile: + 94 777 265677
E-mail: cosmicgems@gmail.com
Blog: Business Strategist
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