When we look into all of the industrial revolutions that the world has witnessed, we have been tracking the change in energy playing a major role in that. The “rise” of various energy sources had significant impact on the lives of societies. All technological breakthroughs and the current progress in digitalization, which could be composed under the umbrella of the Industry 4.0 indicate that the coming years will also be full of action in terms of energy.

I think we should take two aspects into consideration for the sake of energy efficiency. One of these is climate change. Besides, our energy demand increases considerably due to the requirements of the global economy and rapidly increasing population. Compared to today, global need for electricity alone will increase by 80 percent by 2040. Let me also note that currently 1 billion people have no access to electricity and in time this population will also be included in the energy grid.

The basis for ensuring economic growth for both today and tomorrow is generating sustainable electricity. We can achieve this through the combination of renewable energy and flexible power plants. We can also make energy storage and demand satisfaction mechanisms more dynamic so as to get the best results. Thus, we can generate “reliable and cost-effective sustainable energy”. In addition, we need to include smart platforms and solutions to the process. This will make sure that all infrastructures, be it analogue or digital, can operate in integration and in line with their purposes.

We are customizing these initiatives for Turkey and work tirelessly to offer them to the business world and the society. Globally, we will become a carbon-neutral company by 2030, but here in Turkey, we are already a step ahead. We will achieve this goal by 2023.As Siemens, we generate 10 percent of the renewable energy in Turkey via Siemens turbines. We ensured 260 million TRY savings with approximately 1,100 energy efficiency projects in the last 4 years.

Now is the time to implement the abovementioned principles. This is the way to extend our internal change to the society.

I know that the country’s agenda is filled with sad incidents. Unfortunately, we watch all that’s happening with a heavy heart. Yet I cling to the hope that our country will once again overcome these hard times and in the name of long-term thinking, I would like to point out an important issue: Why is liberalization important to investors in a country that wishes to continue consistent growth?

We are all aware of our need for energy as a growing and developing country. Those who follow me on various platforms would know that I always advocate the idea of benefiting from a wide range and a balanced portfolio of energy sources. And now, due to certain issues, I need to focus especially on one pillar of this portfolio: Natural gas industry.

First of all, let’s remember what makes natural gas combined cycle plants so important in the diversity of energy sources: These plants can rapidly replace renewable power plants when energy demand is high or renewable plants cannot generate electricity due to seasonal reasons; can perform secondary frequency controls; and most importantly, are accepted as a clean energy source. Therefore, they should have a strong place in the energy network our country needs.

However, natural gas and electricity industries have recently been discussing some problems. In almost all meetings with our customers and various stakeholders of the industry, especially the problems in natural gas power plants are mentioned. The media often covers the news that due to the troubles experienced by investors, installed natural gas power plants are disassembled and taken abroad. This is a serious loss for our country and future in a time when we try to make Turkey an attractive environment for investments.

We agree with the industry’s prominent figures that liberalization should be rapidly completed and that this bottleneck in the electricity and gas industry can be overcome with the Azeri gas to be transferred to our country via an international pipeline project like Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline Project (TANAP). When the bottleneck is overcome, we will have more local and foreign investments in Turkey. Thus, employment will increase, and it will be easier for us to secure our growth performance. It is vital that we, as a country, keep this as an important part of our agenda.