India and Turkey to cooperate on renewable energy

India and Turkey have agreed to enhance their cooperation in renewable energy. This was decided at a meeting held between the Turkish energy minister Taner Yildiz and Farooq Abdullah, minister of new and renewable energy at Ankara, Turkey today.

Abdullah is visiting Turkey along with a high level delegation to explore greater opportunities for cooperation and collaboration between India and Turkey. Abdullah briefed his counterpart on the energy situation in India and India's plans to add over 30 GW of renewable energy to its energy mix in the next 5 years. He also dwelt on the success of the wind programme as well as the significant cost reductions in solar energy through the Jawahar Lal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM), a statement from the Press Information Bureau, Govt of India said.

The Turkish leader said that Ankara hopes to diversify its energy mix by introducing a large component of renewables. It has considerable potential in wind, hydro, solar and geothermal energy, and imports over 90 per cent of its oil, gas and fossil fuel requirement.

Yildiz expressed the Turkish government's desire to set up large generating as well as manufacturing capacities in renewable energy sources, particularly wind and solar, and Abdullah offered India's support and expertise to Turkey in setting up projects in wind, solar and hydropower, the statement said. He also offered training slots in India to Turkish scientists, engineers and technicians, the statement said.