All the 81聽provinces聽of the country will have access to聽natural gas following the聽new regulations and investments,聽president of聽Turkey's energy watchdog,聽EMRA, said Thursday.聽
"We reached聽a decision to聽provide compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG) to the cities, which still do not have connection聽to the natural gas grid," said Mustafa Yilmaz, President of聽Energy Market Regulatory Authority,聽EMRA, during a speech at "Istrade 2016聽Energy Trading and Supply Summit" in Istanbul.
Currently, there are 76 cities and more than 200 towns among the 81 provinces of the country, which have access to聽natural gas distributed by pipelines, Yilmaz informed.
Turkey, reliant on imported natural gas, tries to increase the availability of natural gas to residents and industries as an alternative to coal, which pollutes聽and damages the environment.
- Renewable capacity to increase 40 thousand MW
Yilmaz also mentioned Turkey's efforts on promoting renewable energy by facilitating investments and easing of bureaucracy.
"For聽renewables, private companies聽invested in 509 new projects聽with over 16 thousand聽megawatts of capacity during the last three years," Yilmaz said.聽
"We expect to increase Turkey's installed renewable power capacity to 40 thousand聽MW from about 32 thousand聽MW," he said聽
Reporting by Muhsin Baris Tiryakioglu聽
Writing by Huseyin Erdogan聽
Anadolu Agency 聽
huseyin.erdogan@aa.com.tr