Energy dreams in the days of power cuts
▻https://tr.boell.org/de/2017/01/11/energy-dreams-days-power-cuts
The biggest city of Turkey, and its economic heartland, Istanbul has ended the year 2016 with power cuts over several days. Besides causing public outrage towards the provider companies, the power cuts also meant economic losses for private businesses. According to the Turkish Automotive Parts Industry Association (TAYSAD), car manufacturers lost almost 300 million Euros in these few days. Escalating winter conditions made power cuts hard to tolerate for consumers as well, as a good amount of houses are using electrical heaters. This situation is not without irony for a country that is hoping to become a global energy hub.
A photo showing Energy Minister Berat Albayrak, President Erdoğan’s son-in-law, seemingly berating the head of TEİAŞ, the company responsible for the electricity transmission lines spoke volumes about how unpleasant the political outfall from the cuts might be for the government. While the minister and the pro-government media have pointed to the possibility of an international conspiracy against the national electricity network, it is clear that at a time, when the government is hoping to rally public support for a constitutional referendum, these cuts will not help their ratings.
Even after the damage was repaired, the experts have continued warning that the problem is lying deeper and further cuts are to be expected mainly owing to the shortage in natural gas. Iran, the second biggest exporter to Turkey, has cut down the gas flow in December 2016 due to technical reasons, a development increasing the already existing deficit. BOTAŞ has repeated that it will cut supply to gas-fired power plants early in January. These cuts in urban centers have only been postponed as the weather conditions worsened last week.
Another challenge for the energy security of the country is the falling currency exchange rate. Most energy imports are traded in Dollars and the electricity companies are among those holding high amounts of debts in foreign currencies
#Turquie #Electricité #Coupure #Gaz naturel