Opening of seminar on renewable energy

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Your Majesties,

Honourable Ministers,

Your Excellencies,

ladies and gentlemen,

Good morning!

 

It is a great pleasure to be here with you at this opening of the Turkey-Norway Partnership Forum on renewable energy. 

I would like to start by thanking His Majesty King Harald, Her Majesty Queen Sonja and Undersecretary Metin Kilci.

Please let me also extend my gratitude to our hosts and organizers, Innovation Norway, Intpow and the Norwegian Embassy. 

 

It is fair to say that Norway has been blessed by nature.

Some call hydropower our ” blue gold”.

For even if we are large producers of ”black gold” in Norway:

Hydropower is the backbone of our power supply.

99 per cent of Norway’s electricity production is based on hydropower.

And it is the key tool for our industrial development the last 100 years. 

Today we are Europe’s largest producer of hydropower.

More than 60 per cent of our total energy consumption is based on renewable energy. Our target is to reach 67, 5 per cent by 2020.

We also have 50 per cent of Europe´s total reservoir capacity.

Some call us “The battery of Europe”.

In short:

Our “blue gold” enables us to provide renewable, environmentally friendly energy for ourselves and our neighbours.

And this is in a time where climate-friendly energy solutions is highly needed. 

 

Hydropower has several advantages:

It is not only a renewable, green way of producing energy.

It can also be a catalyst for other uses of water, like drinking water, irrigation and flood-control.

It can also provide peak power, complementing the use of wind and solar energy.

Besides, good, profitable hydropower projects can form a solid base for local value creation.

This truly creates a potential win-win situation for societies such as Turkey, with large opportunities within hydropower development. 

 

Turkey and Norway – in opposite corners of Europe – but with the largest hydropower resources of all European countries!

I am truly glad that Norwegian businesses now can take part in the development of renewable energy in Turkey. 

And I am glad that Turkey has created good conditions for investments in the energy industry here.

I am therefore also happy that our state owned company Statkraft is taking such an active part in this sector.

Hydropower development in Turkey is an important part of Statkraft’s strategy. 

I believe that Statkraft´s and other Norwegian companies´ skills and competencies can contribute to further development of both the hydropower sector in Turkey and Turkey’s power market. 

 

Like the Turkish government, the Norwegian government wishes to meet the increasing demand for energy in an environmentally friendly and sustainable manner.

I am truly convinced that if we wish to find environmentally friendly, sustainable ways of meeting the world´s increasing demand for energy, hydropower is the right way to go.

And as you say here in Turkey:

Adam adama gerek olur.  

In English: Man needs man.

This means we can only achieve something through teamwork.

This is the case if we want to address large issues of our time,

like environmental challenges and how to meet an increasing demand for energy. 

For in order to succeed, I believe we have to work together and across borders to share our knowledge and experience.

  

It is my sincere hope that this occasion will strengthen the Turkish-Norwegian co-operation in the field of hydropower, to the benefit of our people, our environment and economic development.

And with today´s signing of our Memorandum of Understanding, I am hopeful that we will bring this cooperation further in the future.

To finalize, I would like to express my best wishes for the Turkish-Norwegian cooperation and for a prosperous hydropower future.

I wish you a successful seminar.

Thank you for your attention.

Teşekkür ederim.