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Electric car manufacturing and sustainable energy were the key topics of discussion as Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with Tesla CEO Elon Musk in Ankara on Wednesday.

The meeting came just one week after Erdogan announced that five automotive supplier firms - Anadolu Group, BMC, Kiraca Holding, Turkcell, and Zorlu Holding - will jointly manufacture Turkey's first car, adding that he expects the car’s prototype will be ready in 2019, with sales to follow in 2021.

Erdogan had also shown a willingness to lean towards the production of hybrid cars, something electric car giant Tesla and its boss Musk know a thing or two about.

Musk has been calling for a transition from fossil fuels to sustainable energies for years and found common ground with Erdogan's plan to make Turkey more self-reliant and efficient in all sectors by 2023.

Presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said Musk and Erdogan also discussed environmental issues and solar power generation and potential joint operations between Tesla, Musk’s SpaceX company and Turkish firms, as well as the launch of Turkey’s Turksat 5A and 5B satellites.

“We also exchanged views on what sort of joint operations Turkish firms could have with the SpaceX and Tesla companies,” Kalin was quoted as saying by Anadolu Agency.

Turkey aims to launch the Turksat 5A satellite in 2020 and the 5B in 2021. In October, Airbus submitted the best bid in a tender to build the Turkish satellites.

Kalin said an agreement would be signed with Airbus on Thursday, and Musk would also be present at the meeting as a subcontractor.

Musk’s SpaceX plans its first trip to Mars in 2022, carrying only cargo, to be followed by a manned mission in 2024.

Source : trtworld.com

Renewable energy sources is foreseen to supply more than 40 percent of the incremental primary energy demand to 2040, more than any other fuel, according to International Energy Agency's (IEA) World Energy Outlook 2017 on Wednesday.

The IEA's report shows that electricity generation from renewables will overtake that from coal in the 2020s and will supply 40 percent of electricity by 2040.

Growth is not confined to the power sector; the direct use of renewables for heat and transport will double to 2040, the IEA noted, adding that China will remain the world leader in renewable energy use, followed by the U.S., the EU and India.

China will also increase its share of global renewable energy supply from 15 percent in 2015 to 20 percent in 2040 with 600 million tonnes of oil equivalent (Mtoe). In the U.S., where consumers use renewables to the same extent in their heat and electricity consumption, a change will be seen after 2020, as the use of renewables-based electricity will grow faster than the use of renewables for heat and transport combined.

However, under the existing and planned policies, the annual growth rate of renewables in the U.S. is set to slow from 3.5 percent per year to 2.5 percent per year after 2025, the agency projected.

In the EU, electricity generation from renewables is forecast to grow at a slightly slower rate than in the U.S., as will heat generated from renewables.

The report argues that in Southeast Asia rising energy demand will be the main driver of renewable energy expansion, and as costs decline, the growth rate of renewables will be almost twice that of total final energy consumption.

However, Southeast Asia’s share of global renewables supply will stay flat, at around 7 percent, the IEA noted.

Brazil is among the countries with the highest share of direct and indirect renewable use in final energy demand, the share growing to around 45 percent in 2040, from the current 39 percent.

Source: aa.com.tr

The number of electricity consumers who are able to exercise their right to buy electricity from their preferred provider increased by 1.81 percent in October compared to September, according to the latest Energy Exchange Istanbul (EXIST) data on Friday.

These eligible consumers, who availed of more competitive tariffs, totaled 4.71 million in October.
Consumers who use more than 2,400 kilowatt-hours of electricity per year qualified as eligible consumers in 2017. In other words, customers with a monthly power bill over 82 Turkish liras ($21.44) were classified as eligible.

In October, Istanbul, Turkey's largest populated city contained the largest number of eligible consumers totaling 1.38 million. Izmir and Antalya followed with 461,959 and 380,747 people, respectively.

EXIST divides consumers who qualify into categories from which residential consumers were the largest with over 3.33 million followed by the business sector with 1.31 million eligible consumers.

Source: aa.com.tr

Norway produced 95.3 percent of its electricity from hydro power in September, according to the Statistics Norway (SSB) on Sunday.

The country produced 11.3 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity in September, out of which 8.4 TWh was consumed.

In addition to hydro power, the country produced 2.4 percent of its electricity from thermal power and 2.3 percent from wind power.

The largest consumption came without extraction of crude petroleum and natural gas or power-intensive manufacturing.

The Nordic country's electricity consumption increased by 6.4 percent in September 2017, compared to the same period last year.

Source: aa.com.tr

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4th GRID MODERNIZATION INDEX FINDS CALIFORNIA, ILLINOIS, TEXAS, MARYLAND, AND OREGON AS LEADERS IN GRID MODERNIZATION

The Grid Modernization Index (GMI-4) ranks and analyzes all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia based upon the degree to which they are moving toward a modernized electric grid. The grid is changing to accommodate new cost-effective technologies and evolving consumer expectations. Federal, state, and local policymakers and elected officials are also striving for a cleaner and more reliable grid while ensuring affordable access for all consumers.

Cost declines are one key driver of grid modernization. The cost of wind and solar energy (and increasingly energy storage, electric vehicles, and other emerging technologies) have decreased to where they are often the least-cost option for both utilities and consumers.

Environmental impacts, and related concerns, are also driving consumers and policymakers to seek out these emerging options. At the same time, utilities continue to prioritize reliability and cost-effectiveness while finding effective ways to integrate these new technologies.

The Grid Modernization Index (GMI-4) done by GridWise Alliance can be found here