- TG Expo International Fair Organization and Association of Solar Energy Industrialists and Industry ‘GENSED’ held a press conference for ‘Solar Energy, Energy Storage, Electric Transportation and Digital Transformation Fair’ to be organized for the first time on March 11-13, 2020.
- For Solar Istanbul 2020 Fair and Conference that will cover the Turkish Solar Energy Industry, including the sub-industry, NGOs and Academic World, Gönül Akyıldız, the chairperson of the board of TG Expo, and Halil Demirdağ, the President of GENSED hosted the press conference held in Radisson Blu Bosporus Hotel on 22nd of October 2019. Tolga Özdemir, Vice-President of GUNSED, Kerim Gazioğlu, member of the board of GUNDER, and Erinç Kısa, member of the board of GUNYAD, Association of Solar Energy Investors were among the participants of the press conference.
Producing and using renewable energy has become increasingly important within the agenda of the world and our country. Providing uninterrupted power with a domestic and clean technique is one of the most critical missions of each country in the world. One of the leading fair organization agencies in Turkey, TG Expo, setting off from this point of view and cooperating with GENSED, one of the leading associations of the industry, will organize the first fair with a focus on solar energy. The fair will be organized with the name Solar Istanbul 2020 – Solar Energy, Energy Storage, Electric Transportation and Digital Transformation Fair and Conference, and will be held in Istanbul Congress Centre on 11-13th of March, 2020.
Solar Istanbul 2020, apart from focusing on the solar energy itself and as an alternative among other renewable energy sources, the future of solar energy, energy storage, e-transportation and digital transformation and will bring together all the industry associations and academic community as well as the national and international investors, manufacturers, representatives from sub-industry, regulatory institutions, local administrations, energy storage companies, and agencies specialized on digitalization in energy industry.
Gönül Akyıldız, the chairperson of the board of TG Expo, on her speech in the press conference hosted by TG Expo and GENSED for Solar Istanbul 2020, stated that the tremendous leap of Turkey within the renewable energy industry in the last 10 years pointed at the necessity of increasing the number of activities in this area. Akyıldız said: ‘The climate change crisis we have been going through shows the importance of renewable energy sources, such as sun and wind, and makes it even more crucial than ever to focus on domestic technology production to acquire energy from them. This is not an option but an obligation’. Akyıldız also said it was specifically important for TG Expo, a fair organization company that has so far organized 8 different international energy events, to organize the first energy fair of Turkey.
Halil Demirdag, President of GENSED, the Association of Solar Energy Industrialists and Industry, apart from giving some information about the missions of the fair organization, has stated the capacity of the industry to be only 40 MW in 2014, though exceeding 5,600 MW today. Demirdag also expressed their willingness to bring different actors of the industry together in order to create an even greater improvement. Demirdag, upon drawing attention to the ability and capacity of Turkey on producing solar panels with a high level of indigenousness within the factories established, again, with domestic capacity. Demirdag said: ‘These panels are not only used in Turkey, but they are also exported to many other countries, creating big economic dynamism. The solar power plants, designed and established by the very engineers and the technicians educated and specialized in our country, currently supply different regions in the world with green and clean energy. For example, Turkish construction companies are among the leaders in the African construction market. We call upon them to build on the solar energy within the African market. By observing the developments on local and on global scale, we, as GENSED, have decided to organize this fair with TG Expo. Our aim is to contribute to the solar energy industry to grow much faster. However, this is not a topic or a mission of one association. We have invited many other associations which work a lot to help the industry grow in our country. We want them to be the co-owners of the fair. We attach importance to this fair and conference also in this context’.
We can save a total of $18billion in 30 years
Demirdağ also said, “Solar energy is indeed the cheapest and totally indigenous energy source. Considering that the life of the solar power plants is 30 years, we will have saved 18 billion dollars, which would in another scenario be spent on imported fuels in 30 years, thanks to the already installed 5.600 MW power’.
“Sun rises from the West, and it is approaching to the East”
Tolga Özdemir, the CEO of Konar Energy and Vice-President of Association of Solar Energy Industrialists and Industry, GENSED, said: “Sun rises from the West, and it is approaching to the East. We would like to introduce this new source of energy to as many people as possible. Today we are discussing solar energy; tomorrow, we will discover much better technologies for batteries. Micro-networks will be developed. The purpose of this fair, which we decided to organize with TG Expo, is to announce the latest technologies in this ecosystem and to transfer the potential of our country abroad and to bring their experience to our country. The content of the conference agenda will include topics prepared in accordance with professional infrastructure and discussion techniques with representatives from Europe and some other new markets. In this sense, visitors and exhibitors will have the opportunity to better understand the impact and the final purpose of the fair once they experience it.”
Erinç Kısa, Board Member of GÜYAD, who made a short speech at the meeting and talked about the importance of supporting the Solar Istanbul Fair, saying it is a very big initiative for the industry.
He pointed out that the solar power plant production has reached to 5,600 MW in last five years, and underlined that it was obligatory to benefit from domestic and cost-free resources, such as wind, and geothermal energy. “For this reason, we, as GUYAD, believe that YEKDEM, a mechanism that has proven itself, should continue.” Said Erinç. He urged that special imparlance should be given to the investors who would not be able to enter the business by the end of December 31, 2020 so that their investments would not be idle and be functional to create employment.
For further info:
Mustafa Atik, Genius Steps, +90 541 241 19 73, mustafa.atik@geniussteps.com
