Turkey needs $80b in electricity infrastructure investment through 2035

As the world seeks to "rethink, redesign and strengthen" its electricity infrastructure, emerging economies such as Turkey need access to affordable, long-term climate finance, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said.

"Public finance alone will not be sufficient," Bayraktar said, addressing the Istanbul Climate Finance Summit.

"We need to mobilize private capital, international financial institutions, development banks and long-term institutional investors," he said as quoted by Anadolu Agency.

"In Turkey itself, only until the year 2035, we need to invest at least $80 billion in our electricity infrastructure," he added.

Financing mechanisms must reduce risk, lower the cost of capital and make investments in clean energy and climate-resilient infrastructure commercially attractive, he added.

"For emerging economies like Turkey, especially for these economies in particular, access to affordable and long-term climate finance is essential," he said.

"The energy transition cannot succeed globally if financing remains expensive or inaccessible precisely in the countries where energy demand and investment needs are growing fastest," the Turkish minister added.

Bayraktar said global warming and climate change also make it necessary to rethink, redesign, and strengthen electricity infrastructure.

"We are already seeing more frequent and severe extreme-weather events around the world, including Turkey," he said. "Heatwaves, floods, storms, droughts and wildfires can all affect electricity generation, transmission, and distribution."

Climate finance, therefore, should support not only emissions reductions but also resilience and adaptation, he said.

"The infrastructure we build today must be designed for the climate conditions of the coming decades, not simply those of the past. And this requires enormous financial resources," he said.

He described the energy transition as "unprecedented in scale," requiring more renewable energy, greater energy efficiency, nuclear power, energy storage, electrification and substantial investment in transmission and distribution networks.

WAM