Energy concerns sap the strength of Turkey’s economy and the annual import bill for oil and gas constitutes around half the nation’s deficit. The country has virtually no fuel supplies of its own, can’t do without it, has unreliable external suppliers and is feeling the financial strain. Durmus Yilmaz, governor of the Turkish Central Bank, told Oxford Business Group (OBG) that the country spends around $40 billion per year buying energy. As bad as the cost are the problems related to security of supply. Russia, in the form of Gazprom, is showing itself increasingly prone to use energy supplies as a political weapon and Iran simply turns off the natural gas tap when its own needs outstrip those of its customers. The answer, Turkey has decided, is to switch to renewable sources in a big, big way. There are some who see the country as being totally self-sufficient through these
