The Turkish-German Energy Partnership

Increasing renewable energy generation is the core task of the energy transition. To reach climate neutrality, almost all energy has to come from renewable sources. Türkiye and Germany both already have a high share of electricity from renewable sources and a high potential for further expansion. In Türkiye, the conditions for solar energy, wind, as well as geothermal-, and hydropower are especially favourable.

The efficient use of energy decreases costs and facilitates the decoupling of economic growth from CO₂ emissions. Therefore, it plays an important role in decreasing CO₂ emissions and fighting climate change. Efficiency gains require smart concepts and sustained investments in buildings, infrastructure and production facilities by the government, businesses, and private citizens. The working group explores how instruments and support mechanisms can incentivise further investment in energy efficiency.

A successful energy transition in all sectors requires the interconnection of energy generation, industry, mobility and buildings. To make this possible, the energy system and its infrastructure have to change: Flexibility has to be increased, e.g. with storage systems or by using demand-side flexibility; charging stations for electric vehicles have to be integrated into the system; hydrogen will function as a link between the sectors.

Energy markets allocate resources and efficiently match supply and demand. Market design and regulations have a major impact on the efficiency of the market and investment decisions. A well-designed market contributes to the integration of large numbers of small generation facilities, low prices and security of supply. A better understanding of the respective domestic markets also helps businesses in both countries identify business opportunities.

Since electricity supply and demand must be balanced at all times, a rising share of variable renewable energy requires energy system flexibility. Existing thermal power plants constitute an important source of flexibility. Therefore, the flexible operation of these plants is key for the efficient system integration of variable renewable energy.