The first meeting for “Establishment of Renewable Energy Cooperative in Istanbul” was held at the Kadikoy Municipality Marriage Office Conference Hall. Yeşil Düşünce NGO and Yeryüzü NGO were the inviter of this meeting.
Those who are interested to become stakeholder of energy cooperative in Istanbul came together to establish a cooperative in Istanbul where citizens produced and consumed their own energy with a local and democratic energy production-consumption model.
Sevil Turan, General Coordinator of Yeşil Düşünce NGO and Aytaç Tolga Timur, Board Member of Yeryüzü NGO, started informing speeches about renewable energy cooperation and continued with the questions of the participants. The main focus of the meeting was held about what can be done to establish a renewable energy cooperative in Istanbul. The issues such as criteria’s and processes of establishing a cooperative, determination of suitable places to produce renewable energy for the cooperative, benefits of renewable and environmentally friendly energy resources, how to join the energy cooperative and how much share will be taken are also talked.
“More Fair, Clean and Cheap Energy Model”
Sevil Turan, the General Coordinator of the Green Thought Association, stated that they have been working on renewable energy cooperatives and citizen-based power plants for almost four years as the Yeşil Düşünce NGO. Turan said “We consider the model of energy cooperatives as a new model for transforming into a more fair, clean and cheap form of energy system which is democratic and localized. Because everyone may not want to start a company, people who don’t know each other may not start a company, but the cooperative is a non-profit neighbourhood movement.” Turan, giving technical information on why and how to build renewable energy cooperatives, explained that according to the potential on the European side and the Anatolian side and the number of members in Istanbul the best suitable place to build this renewable energy cooperative will be chosen and the members will create their own local energies.
Turan stated that more than a hundred people attended the meeting and it is very positive sign. A lot of people want to be actively involved in this cooperative. The cooperatives should be established with minimum seven people and the number of stakeholders determines the capacity of the energy cooperative. This contract is linked to sum of members’ power rate, so it is very important point. There is a potential in Istanbul to be an example for other regions in Turkey. Because many people live in Istanbul and in order to transformation to an ecological energy system both status of the solar system and the status of the roofs in Istanbul has a –great opportunity.
Turan stated that they aim to determine the location and capacity of the renewable power plant with the people who decide to become a definitive member of the cooperative. “We are planning to build approximately 200 or 300 kilowatt power plants. The place is not yet clear. The numerical terms will become clear once the place is selected.
This is the first meeting and with so much interest, we plan to have implemented it for up to 6 months, but the permitting processes take a little longer. Turan emphasized that public institutions are supporters in the establishment of renewable energy power plants but Turan also informed that people who works related in the state institutions have changed in time, so people who are responsive and the situation of the process has been changed. For example, such as the re-starting process might be happening because of new people.
“The Government guarantees the purchase by October 31, 2020“
Aytaç Tolga Timur, Member of the Board of Directors of the Yeryüzü NGO, who provided information on the state determined by the state to establish a renewable energy cooperative, said that “The main purpose of our meeting is our wish to produce our own energy with our plants. There’s an expiration date which the government promises to buy our energy. This date is October 31, 2020. Now if we produce the government says that energy will be taken with fix price. If we spend the specified time, there may not be a purchase guarantee. If we don’t bring this project to life by this date, it gets harder. But solar energy has such a beauty; installation takes 1 week. So, if we complete the process of establishing a cooperative and the installation will be the easiest part of the work.”
“We will produce clean energy without damaging the nature“
Mahmut Boynudelik, one of the founders of Troy Renewable Energy Cooperative established in Çanakkale and also considering to be among the member of the cooperative that will be established in Istanbul, said: “With the energy cooperatives, we will produce our own energy and produce clean energy without harming the nature. I also care about the energy cooperative model in this respect; this model is an alternative and a revolt for the dominance of big companies in the energy market. This is not a profitable investment, we are not establishing an energy company. Profitability can be a side objective. With the democratization of energy, the citizen will be producing locally and consuming locally. Energy consumers will also be producers and they will turn to energy savings and energy efficiency to generate more revenue.
