Zorlu Enerji Elektrik Üretim : panel discusses ways to combat the climate crisis

Press Release December'21- January'22

Zorlu Enerji's panel discusses ways to combat the climate crisis

Zorlu Enerji aims to support Turkey's sustainable and regenerative growth and continues its activities to add value to society and the world and better manage all environmental and social risks with its employees and other stakeholders. With the events organized in line with its vision of responsibility towards society and the environment, Zorlu Enerji raises awareness on many issues vital for the world's future. Zorlu Enerji's panel, "Is There a Way Out of the Climate Crisis? New Problems, New Solutions," discussed vital climate crisis issues from R&D and innovation projects carried out in the world and our country about the climate crisis to energy transformation, from electric vehicles that will solve our dependence on oil to electric vehicle charging stations.

In the event, the measures to be taken against the climate crisis and the degradation of habitats and the projects in this area were shared. Zorlu Enerji R&D Manager Ural Halaçoğlu, ZES Smart Systems Group Manager Burçin Açan, Turkish Electric & Hybrid Vehicles Association (TEHAD) President Berkan Bayram and Solar3GW Secretary General Özge Özeke attended the event moderated by Barış Doğru, Editor-in-Chief of Eko IQ Magazine.

"We focused on renewable energy sources, electric vehicles, and smart grids"

Stating that Zorlu Enerji focused on renewable energy sources, electric vehicles, and smart grids, Zorlu Enerji R&D Manager Ural Halaçoğlu continued: "In our journey towards becoming the energy company of the future, we provide 100% of our domestic electricity generation from renewable energy sources and manage our entire business under our renewable energy investments. In 2008, we started our initial projects in geothermal. In the same period, we entered the wind power plants business. Hydroelectric power plants were also included in our portfolio in this period.

In 2017, we crossed paths with TÜBİTAK (Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey) while we were building and commissioning of Kızıldere 3 Geothermal Power Plant. At the end of that year, they shared information about Horizon 2020, a European Union fund. Afterward, they suggested that we do projects with European partners as the sector leader in geothermal power plants. This is how we stepped into our first cooperation with the project "GECO" (Geothermal Emission Control). Following this, we conducted other projects. Then, as various partners started to contact us, we participated in another project with our team.

Currently, four projects -in which Zorlu Enerji is involved- are being conducted through the European Union's Horizon 2020 framework program. Also, we have three projects indirectly funded by the European Union and supported by TUBITAK in Turkey. With all projects supported by the EU, our 7 projects in total are operated by Zorlu Enerji, and 4 EU-supported projects are carried out by Osmangazi Elektrik Dağıtım A.Ş. In addition, we can say that we have around 10 EMRA (Energy Market Regulatory Authority) supported R&D projects. To sum up, we manage nearly 20 R&D projects in total."

"Charging infrastructure is needed most for electric vehicles to become widespread"

Burçin Açan, ZES Smart Systems Group Manager, stated that one of the most basic needs that would increase the use of electric vehicles was the expansion of electric vehicle charging stations, and added: "For electric vehicles to become widespread in the globe and our country, there is a need to focus on three issues. The first of these is the need to reduce the costs of electric vehicles. We anticipate that the prices of these vehicles will fall to similar levels to others by 2025. The second issue is ending up potential electric vehicle buyers' range concerns. As known, electric vehicles currently have a shorter range than fuel vehicles. This may afflict potential users, and automotive manufacturers are working intensively on this issue. The third issue is the prevalence of electric charging stations, which will reassure potential users. We have charging stations spread over 81 provinces in our country. We continue our efforts to deliver them also to the districts. Thanks to the electric vehicle charging infrastructure deployed in our country, we move to a level that users can reach many charging points without any hesitation.

"Charging opportunities need to be expanded at home and in public parking lots"

As of 2020, there are 1.3 million electric vehicle charging stations worldwide -900 thousand slightly slower stations and 400 thousand fast-charging stations. Nearly half of this charging infrastructure is deployed in China. With the new law enacted in Turkey, we expect charging opportunities to become widespread at home and in public parking lots. In our country, infrastructure investments are made due to five-year plans.

In parallel with the charging stations, which will become widespread in the upcoming period, we expect to make the grids suitable for electric vehicle charging station investments to be adopted and promoted within government policies.

"We foresee that in Turkey there will be more than 1 million electric vehicles and 180 thousand public sockets in 2030"

As Zorlu Energy Solutions (ZES), we established our first charging stations in 2018. Before that, intercity travel was not possible. Without commercial expectations, we have been investing in fast electric vehicle charging stations that will enable intercity rides for three years. Today, we have public electric vehicle charging stations in 81 provinces and around 1,300 public sockets in total. 2022 will be a milestone in this sense. Essential regulations are being worked on to expand the charging infrastructure. Increasing the number of players preparing Turkey for the future of electric vehicles is critical for developing the ecosystem. If investments in the sector continue at this rate, we foresee that there will be more than 1 million electric vehicles and 180 thousand public sockets in Turkey in 2030. With our ZES brand, we continue our investments without slowing down to empower this field."

"Currently, there are 6 thousand electric cars in our country"

Turkish Electric & Hybrid Vehicles Association (TEHAD) President Berkan Bayram mentioned: "Now we are aware that the vehicles we use today release toxic gases such as carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and NOX are 40 times more than is known. There are 37 trillion tons of carbon dioxide emissions globally. 52 percent of this is produced from Asia, 18 percent from North America and Mexico, and 17 percent from Europe.

China alone accounts for 7 percent of this emissions rate. As transport accounts for about 27 percent of total emissions, automotive brands seek a solution on the consumer side. The number of electric vehicles in traffic reached 7.5 million last year, and 4 million electric vehicles were sold in Europe alone. Currently, there are 6 thousand electric cars in our country."

"Solar energy investments should not be hindered"

Solar3GW Secretary-General Özge Özeke remarked that solar energy was one of the crucial actors in the fight against the climate crisis and continued as follows: "Today, there is an installed power of around 1 terawatt in solar energy in the globe. Despite the pandemic, China installed the most with 138 GW in 2020. Solar energy has become much cheaper in the last 10 years. Compared to fossil fuels, we see that large-scale solar installations are extremely cost-effective. Energy storage has also gotten cheaper, and it will slowly start to become more commercial. Solar energy can now be used as a baseload power plant. We started to see some examples abroad. There is a huge investor demand and technology in Turkey. Solar energy is a scalable and democratic resource. Anyone can install panels on their roof and generate their electricity. Therefore, solar energy investments should not be hindered."