WindEurope Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Giles Dickson stated that Europe, which aims to create a larger wind energy supply chain and reduce its dependence on China, sees Turkiye as a part of this context.
Dickson made an evaluation to the AA correspondent within the scope of the 12th Turkish Wind Energy Congress (TUREK 2023), organized this year with the theme of “Century of Wind”, of which Anadolu Agency (AA) is the “Global Communication Partner”.
Stating that the European Wind Energy Action Plan aims to create a larger wind energy supply chain in Europe and reduce the export of renewable energy equipment, Dickson said that the European Union (EU) will provide financing for the installation of new factories within the framework of this plan.
Dickson pointed out that the EU thinks that equal conditions should be created between the European wind energy industry and its non-European competitors and said, “The bar will be raised for what kind of equipment can be sold in Europe. Turbines to be built will need to comply with a number of global environmental, cybersecurity and data residency standards. So wind turbines cannot just be built in Europe.”
“Turkiye is a better option for Europe than any Asian country”
Emphasizing that if there is a company selling unfairly subsidized wind turbines in Europe, the EU will take action against it, Dickson said, “This is a very important reason, because unfairly subsidized wind turbines are neither in favor of Europe nor of Turkiye. Because this increases dependence on Asian wind equipment suppliers. Having just weaned ourselves off our dependence on Russian gas, we don’t want to become dependent on China again to produce renewable energy equipment.”
Giles Dickson also mentioned that the data produced in wind turbines should be stored correctly and said, “We do not want the data to go outside Turkiye or Europe. This data should be stored and analyzed securely.”
Pointing out that the employment, growth and economic benefits that will be provided by the widespread use of wind energy should also be taken into consideration, Dickson said, “You do not want the economic benefits to go outside Turkiye or Europe. This is not in anyone’s interest. Turkiye is a better option for Europe than any Asian country. Essentially, the best option for Europe and Turkiye is to see the phrase ‘Made in Europe’ or ‘Made in Turkiye’ on a manufactured product.”
Dickson stated that rare earth elements are needed to produce permanent magnets found in the generators of most wind turbines and said, “We are almost completely dependent on China for the supply of rare elements such as neodymium, dysprosium and praseodymium.
Turkiye has the rare elements needed to produce wind turbines and should extract these resources. “This will be in favor of Turkiye and Europe.”
Dickson said, “For all these purposes, Turkiye is part of Europe.”
Turkiye’s wind energy industry is developing day by day
Continuing its strategic steps towards its domestic and national energy target, Turkiye ranks 6th in Europe and 12th in the world with its 12 gigawatt wind energy installed power. Turkiye, which has become the 5th largest power in Europe in the wind energy industry, which is developing day by day, also has rich resources in terms of rare earth elements, which are of great importance in this field. Aiming to bring these resources to the economy, Turkiye’s rare earth element mining field in Eskisehir’s Beylikova district ranks second in the world after China with 694 million tons of reserves.
In this context, with the Beylikova Fluorite, Barite and Rare Earth Elements Pilot Plant, which was opened in April, the focus will be on the production of 7 rare earth elements in the first phase, and the oxides of these elements will be produced for the first time. Rare elements such as fluorite, barite, lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, samarium, gadolinium, europium, neodymium and 17 other rare earth elements to be obtained will also be subject to production at the facility.
Source: AA / Prepared by Irem Yildiz