The most talked-about topic of recent days, ‘Energy’, was discussed in all its aspects at OSTİM. At the 7th International Energy and Value Conference, organized in collaboration with OSTİM Technical University, Hacettepe University, OSTİM Renewable Energy and Environmental Technologies Cluster, Ostim Technopark Inc., and the Center for Energy and Value Issues (CEVI), local and foreign experts, industrialists, and academics discussed topics such as ‘Energy Projects and Economics’, ‘Financing of Energy Projects’, ‘Energy Efficiency’, and ‘The Role of SMEs in Energy Production’.
The opening of the conference, hosted by OSTİM Organized Industrial Zone, was attended by Ankara Chamber of Industry President Nurettin Özdebir, OSTİM Technical University Board of Trustees Chairman Orhan Aydın, CEVI President Prof. Andre Dorsman, academics, industrialists, and numerous sector representatives.
Prof. Dr. Mehmet Baha Karan, a faculty member at Hacettepe University's Department of Business Administration and Vice President of CEVI, provided information about the event. Noting that the conference, held every two years since 2007, has previously been organized in various locations around the world including Amsterdam, Chicago, Istanbul, Groningen, and Cyprus, Karan stated, “Our country's energy independence is undoubtedly the most important current issue. Although our country is naturally a hub for energy distribution due to its location, the political developments around us are causing us difficulties.”
The experienced academic, who cited the upcoming US embargo on Iran and the economically and technically unfeasible pipeline projects in the Eastern Mediterranean that exclude Turkey as significant problems, shared the following: “In conclusion, the main objective of the 7th International Energy and Value Conference, which focuses on energy markets and energy financing, is to support studies on the development of energy markets in the world and in Turkey, the expansion of renewable energy sources, and especially their financing. In this context, it is expected to make a significant contribution to the formation and development of our country's energy policies.”
CEVI President Prof. Andre Dorsman stated that they are a non-profit foundation. Dorsman said, “CEVI has over 100 active members. We collaborate with university members and practitioners. In this sense, we create a link between these two groups.”
“We must meet our own needs ourselves”
OSTİM Chairman Orhan Aydın said, “As OSTİM, we are a local player in the global energy market. We have a network that manages and monitors the entire energy production chain and these markets. Organized Industrial Zones in Turkey have a structure that can utilize energy licenses. Therefore, we distribute energy only within our own region, and we have approximately 7,500 subscribers. We handle all their business and transactions as OSTİM Organized Industrial Zone.”
Aydın, stating that Turkey is dependent on foreign sources in the energy sector, continued: “We don't see this as a positive thing. We are aware of the necessity of meeting our own needs ourselves. In this sense, we have brought together the companies in our region and carried out a clustering activity related to renewable energy. Together with our companies, we are also striving to increase the use of renewable energy in Turkey in all energy sectors, including wind, solar, hydrogen energy, and energy efficiency, and to produce their products domestically.”
OSTİM's transformation: Zoning plan
Highlighting Ostim Technopark's focus entirely on renewable energy and clean technologies, Orhan Aydın gave examples of energy projects they contribute to and manage in the region: “We are also the patrons of domestic work related to wind turbines in Turkey. We can say that the starting point of the MİLRES Project is the OSTİM Renewable Energy and Environmental Technologies Cluster. Beyond that, as an Organized Industrial Zone, our further goal, our future plan, is this: we have a project to transform this region into one where clean energy is produced entirely from solar panels on the roofs, generating and utilizing its own energy. We have been working on this for a long time. We have completely changed our zoning plan accordingly. The footnote in our zoning plan states that every building to be constructed here must be designed, produced, and built to be entirely clean energy-efficient and capable of generating its own energy through solar panels. We are following this with great care. Our goal is for our region to become one that produces its own energy from solar panels on its roofs and uses this self-produced energy and clean technologies for technological production in the future. We are on the path to achieving this.”
“The Turkish economy is not a natural resource-based economy”
Ankara Chamber of Industry President Nurettin Özdebir stated that in developing countries, the scope and structure of industry diversify, the technological level increases, and the relative position of service and trade sectors improves along with development. Emphasizing that Turkey, a developing country, is also going through this process, Özdebir said, “As someone who has been involved in industry for many years, I see production as a culture. Compared to the countries around us, I can easily say that this production culture is quite developed in Turkey. The Turkish economy is not based on natural resources. Sometimes we wish we had natural resources, but economic literature has shown that the ‘natural resource curse’ seen in countries with natural resources has often set these economies back.”
Highlighting that Turkey, with its limited energy resources and dependence on foreign energy sources, produces in order to grow and that its manufacturing culture develops as it produces, the President of the Ankara Chamber of Industry (ASO) said, "We all have very important tasks to fulfill in order to develop this hard-earned culture without losing it."
“Renewable energy will come to the forefront”
Despite the significant steps taken in the energy sector in the last 10 years, Nurettin Özdebir stated that Turkey still has a long way to go in terms of generating value in energy, and pointed out the following: “If the predictions come true, renewable energy will emerge as the fastest growing energy source in the world. I believe that Turkey will also reach a better position in this field after the regulations made by the Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EPDK).”
As you know, energy policy is a field structured within the triangle of regulation, liberalization, and competition. Following steps towards liberalization in certain energy sectors, primarily electricity, Turkey has implemented regulations to establish competition. However, at this point, it is possible to say that liberalization cannot yield the desired results if market conditions do not support a competitive structure. Undoubtedly, the ultimate goal in all areas of energy should be liberalization followed by a competitive market structure. However, certain characteristics of the energy sector make this goal difficult. High initial investment costs, the need for high levels of investment to become profitable, high exit costs from the market, and uncertainty in price and demand are the most significant market drawbacks.
In this type of market structure, regulatory authorities can provide significant room for maneuver for private sector players as long as they establish a predictable and fair market structure through the rules they set. However, market structures where rules are constantly changing, where change closes the market instead of liberalizing it, and which are far from predictable, bring inefficiency and ineffectiveness on the one hand.”
“Industrialization is no accident”
The host of the event, OSTİM Technical University's Rector Prof. Dr. Murat Yülek, gave a presentation on "The Rise of Nations: Manufacturing, Trade, Industrial Policy and Economic Development." Yülek emphasized the importance of the manufacturing industry.
Yülek stated, “Industry is very important for us. Because OSTİM Technical University is a newly established university. There are 206 universities in Turkey, and it is one of the newest. Our fundamental starting point is to establish a university that is involved in industry, industrial development, international trade, and of course, the real world within this framework. Since the basic input of the entire concept of industry is energy, this conference is closely related to what we call industry. OSTİM Technical University is a university that wants to be in the real world, in trade.”
Here are some key points from Murat Yülek's speech, which touched upon the main ideas in his book, "The Rise of Nations": "Our topic today has three main elements. The first is a well-known idea, probably one that many of us are convinced of: manufacturing industry remains critically important. The second is an old idea, but one that many of the participants here are convinced of: poor countries, countries with low per capita income – we call them low-income and middle-income countries – must industrialize to reach higher income levels. Industrialization is absolutely essential."
Thirdly, there's the idea that industrialization isn't spontaneous or accidental. If it occurs, it eventually stalls at a certain point. This is a somewhat new idea. Based on this idea, we can conclude that if industrialization is necessary for enrichment and doesn't happen spontaneously, then something needs to be done to achieve it. Therefore, the question arises: who needs to do what to industrialize? There are two key actors here: the state and private sector companies. If both do their part, a developing country can industrialize, develop, and increase its per capita income.
The state's responsibility is to create the right policies. The private sector's responsibility is to run the race. To run it properly and professionally. If we take Korea, which is a very popular example right now, or another favorite example of mine, Sweden or Germany, in both cases the state has done its part. Thanks to this combination, where the private sector has largely fulfilled its role, we see that those countries have developed very rapidly.”
Photos
