Energy

The fact that Turkey's energy portfolio is largely based on imported fossil fuels, that our renewable energy diversity has not been benefited at the desired level so far, and that there are significant opportunities for energy conservation reflect the importance of R&D and innovation activities to ensure a change in our energy future. According to 2019 data, approximately 83% of our energy supply, which is 147 million tons of equivalent oil (MTEP), is met through oil, natural gas and coal. This situation, which refers to the upper limit of energy imports, points to the importance of ensuring a transformation through R&D and innovation and achieving a position that can produce energy technologies for the evaluation of our own energy resources.

Considering the global examples, it is possible to see that various countries can or are implementing an axis transformation of R&D and innovation in the field of energy security. Common to these examples are the well-drawn strategic framework and the decisiveness of ambitious targets. In this regard, there is a lack of a strategy in Turkey that is integrated with our 2023 goals, decodes the path to achieving these goals through R&D and innovation, and encourages us to go beyond these goals with breakthroughs that can be achieved in the field of energy technologies. This situation once again highlights the importance of the national R&D and innovation strategy to be established in the energy field. In our country's strategy and policy documents, especially ensuring the security of energy supply, therefore ensuring the diversity of energy resources, stands out as the most important goal. In line with this goal, increasing the use of domestic and renewable energy sources is extremely important.

It is necessary to accelerate the wide and sustainable use of biomass resources by pilot plants, practitioners, and then to utilize bioenergy cycle technologies as reference points in Turkey. For this purpose, as part of Project INDEPENDENT, a long-term R&D program is being developed in order to support the Turkish bioenergy industry by improving the most feasible technologies and value chains commercially by means of flexible thermo-chemical and bio-chemical methods to produce advanced biofuels (bio-jet fuel, biodiesel, biohydrogen, biomethane, bioethanol), high efficiency heat and power from algal biomass in a sustainable manner.