Based on the Mid-term Economic Programme covering the 2017-2019 period, execution of many projects related to critical issues, most particularly on resolving the external dependency on energy, are anticipated. These investments will also create added value for many other industries besides with the energy industry. Undoubtedly, one of the most invested industry in Turkey in the last ten years is energy sector. Increasing demand, liberalization of the industry and the incentives on the renewable energy projects provided by the state boosted these investments in the field. Progress of the liberalization in the Turkish energy sector is ongoing. Since the early 2000’s 75 USD billions worth of investment has been made in the electricity sector. By means of these investments which were mainly exerted in productions, power plant capacity in Turkey increased 168% in the last 15 years. The share of the production by state execution has been decreased to 30% by the privatizations and new private sector investments. Establishment of the Enerji Piyasaları İşletme A.Ş. (EPİAŞ) was a giant step for the sake of energy market’s transparency and predictability. The ongoing growth of energy industry in the last decade is expected to continue in the upcoming period as well. Many projects in the industry and government’s agenda are expected to be kickstarted in 2017 and 2018 and to be completed until 2023. In projections regarding the upcoming period which is expected to be so vibrant and fruitful, 2016, though it was a rough year, has a big impact. Because, many substantial developments were realized in 2016. According to the KPMG Turkey’s 2017 Energy Industry Report, the World Energy Congress took place in Turkey last year, execution of daylight saving time, approval of TANAP credits, and the normalization of relations with Russia are the prominent factors for the industry… In accordance with all these, 2017 seem to be as vibrant… As reported by the government’s Mid-term Economy Programme covering the period between 2017 and 2019, Turkey will continue to kick-start domestic renewable energy resources besides with investing in nuclear technologies in order to secure the energy supply. The projects that could strengthen Turkey’s hand in international energy trade will be emphasized and in particular, the projects of local manufacturing of the alternative energy production equipment from wind, solar energy and hydroelectricity will move on. As mentioned in the programme, most of the tasks are related with the ongoing projects. Major projects are awaiting Turkey. One of them is the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant which will be started to be built in 2017 as The Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, Berat Albayrak announced… The project is planned to be completed in 2023. This is not the only nuclear plant project in government’s plans. There is also another project in the agenda to be planted in Sinop with the partnership of Elektrik Üretim A.Ş. (EÜAŞ) along with the French and Japenese joint venture. The third nuclear plant projects is also agreed between EÜAŞ, Westinghouse EC and SNPTC. Different locations are being evaluated at the moment for this project. All these projects are expected to create a significant contribution to Turkish economy. Akkuyu Nuclear Plant is expected to cost 4,800 megawatt power and 20 USD billions. The plant to be located in Sinop by French and Japanese partnership is also estimated to cost 22 USD billions. Therewithal, as long as these projects are contracted by consortiums partnered with domestic companies, the contribution of the projects to the Turkish economy will be even greater. Because, in such large-scale projects, each aspects are as important as the projects’ scope from construction to the materials to be used. Energy Expert Necdet Pamir, though he states that he doesn’t kindly take nuclear power plants, he asserts that these projects will create a great business opportunities particularly for the infrastructure contractors. Energy Analyst Mete Göknel also shares same opinions. In particular, he thinks that the Turkish infrastructure contractors have a great likelihood of success in Akkuyu nuclear power plant which will be kick-started in the last months of 2017. Companies in Turkey already proved themselves by coming through such large-scale projects in the past. He remarked his belief in that this project would be undertaken by a consortium partnered by domestic companies. SINGLE OPTION RISK IS SILL EXTANT Turkey’s primary energy sources are 75% foreign-dependent. Natural-gas plants has a 50% share in total electricity generation. Besides, more than half of Turkey’s natural gas is imported from Russia. Turkey initiated important agreements with major liquefied natural gas (LNG) importer countries such as Qatar in order to lessen this single sided dependency. However, the existing infrastructure is not sufficient for a high volume import. Inadequacy of LNG terminals and storage fields constrain high volume LNG imports to constitute an alternative. In this manner, the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources utilized floating storage and regasification (FSRU) ships alternatively. Utilization of these ships with 1.5 billion cubic meter annual capacity is important. Nevertheless, in consideration with Turkey’s annual 50 billion cubic meter import and its upward trend, it is a fact that there are other moves to be made. In particular, state should make LNG import easier, liberalize the natural gas industry and encourage private sector terminal investments. RENEWABLE ENERGY PROMISING FOR THE FUTURE Imports of the primary power sources stays as the biggest aspect creating the current account deficit. Thereby, domestic and renewable energy resources play crucial roles. Along with the liberalizations of the sector, massive investments have been made in the field. Government promotions sparked the investments of private sector in this manner. Unlike 15 years ago where no wind energy facility was extant in Turkey, now the estimated electricity generation with wind is nearly 10 thousand MW with the recent plants licensed by EPDK. Besides with that solar energy systems happen to be a new appealing investment field in Turkey even it is quite late. Starting from next year they will become one of the most mentioned energy investments in the mid-term. Energy Analyst Mete Göknel refers to the previously contracted projects in energy production facilities particularly in solar energy domain to be re-discussed in the new-year and he adds, “With these projects to be brought back to the agenda and getting them going, the industry will go through a serious mobilization.” Additionally, with a great role in Turkey’s power generation capacity, investments in and privatizations of the hydroelectricity power plants will continue in the forthcoming period. Another important development in this field is the partnership agreement of the sub-companies of Akfen Holding operating in renewable energy production, which were united under the Akfen Renewable Energy Inc., with the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC). In his statement at the meeting on July 14th 2016 Akfen Holding CEO Hamdi Akın asserted, “We are aiming to be a major investor in renewable energy field in Turkey by partnering with highly reputable international institutions such as EBRD and IFC. Our goal is to establish a new and leading platform maintaining sustainable production with completely domestic and renewable resources which is partnered by the corporates investing in this field. I believe that we will reach our goals sooner with our foreign partners. By the virtue of our agreement with these two institutions we expect and aim to attract Turkish and foreign renewable energy investors to our growing platform. In power generation, another important domestic resource is lignite. Due to its relatively low calorie, Turkey’s 14 billion tone lignite reserve has not attracted significant private sector investments yet. In that matter, government’s incentives on buying and tax reductions are expected to create new investments. The ministry of Energy and Natural Resources aims to increase the domestic and renewable energy share to 30% in total by 2023. This amount can be easily reached. Even higher amounts are possible. Yet, for this, the barriers on the liberalization of the sector should be eliminated one by one. WHAT SHOULD BE DONE TO GROW THE INDUSTRY? When it comes to the energy industry, underlining the wide-ranging problems, Mehmet Öğütçü lists, “Feasible finance for energy projects, debt reliefs, currency risks, non-liberalized prices, frequently changing regulations, non-stop supply guarantee concerns, and the last but not the least, the lack of an integrated energy policy encompassing environment, foreign affairs, competition, tax, efficiency, transparency, and finance strategies. Besides, the lack of corporate structures and the human capital to mobilize in each steps of energy value-chain… By emphasizing the permanent solutions of these obstacles before 2023 in the long-run, Öğütçü advises, “It is a must to closely track the executions of relatively successful local and international oil and gas companies such as Petrobras, Petronas, PetroChina, SOCAR, ENI, and Aramco. The goal should be set as to provide the oil and gas supply security from local and neighboring resources as much as possible until 2023, meanwhile nurturing strong national energy champions undertaking local and foreign profitable projects and trade. Some of the most important initiatives for that will be paving the way for new energy champions that are capable of operating in international competitive principles, collaborating with giant regional and international companies in win-win partnerships by handling the political and commercial relationships, providing necessary strategic support to them, and allocation of the resources and time to enhance the human capital that will lead the energy industry in the future.