The Steering Committee of the Clean Energy and Energy Efficiency Measures for Provinces Hosting Syrians under Temporary Protection (SuTP) Project was held in Ankara on Tuesday, 11 February 2020.
The meeting was held with the participation of Deputy Minister of National Education Mr. Reha DENEMEÇ, Head of Construction and Real Estate Department (Project Implementation Unit) Umut GÜR, Head of Constructional Works Department and Project Director Fatih Mehmet ORUÇ, Head of EU Delegation to Turkey Financial Assistance Facility for Refugees in Turkey Libor CHLAD, Senior Manager of German Development Bank Andrea MOSER, representatives of Ministry of Environment and Urbanisation, Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, EMRA, TEDAŞ and TEİAŞ and other relevant institutions.
Making the opening speech of the programme, Deputy Minister Reha DENEMEÇ said: “With our clean energy and energy efficiency project, we aim to provide the energy needed for the provision of education services from renewable energy sources. At the same time, we endeavour to create exemplary buildings that reflect the awareness of saving and efficiency that we want to instil in our children with the energy efficiency practices we will carry out in pilot schools.”
The Project Symbolises a New Model for National Education
Mr DENEMEÇ continued his speech by saying that the project turns into a very feasible investment when financed by the EU grant; “In our project, we are pioneering a new model for our schools as well as reducing our resource needs with photovoltaic panels to be installed on the roofs of schools, solar power plants to be built in suitable areas and energy efficiency transformation of schools. We also pave the way for new investments in terms of National Education with the resources and savings we generate through energy” he continued by saying.
Mr. Reha DENEMEÇ underlined that the financial management of the issue, thanks to the panels and energy efficiency monitoring systems to be established, brings both new approaches within the Ministry and partnership models with various Ministries, and concluded his words as follows “With the project, the energy efficiency and renewable energy agenda of the Ministry is being carried to a new dimension involving international co-operation. In this field, negotiations are ongoing with different funding organisations, particularly with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. If we can have a successful implementation period with our project, the result we have achieved will be a model not only for our Ministry but also for all other Ministries. I would like to thank especially our responsible colleagues for their support in terms of implementation and emphasise that we expect the continuation of proactive and constructive approaches.”
Project Director Fatih Mehmet ORUÇ, who made a detailed presentation about the project implementation process at the meeting, said that they foresee the completion of all activities and acceptance stages by the end of 2021 and that 2020 is very important for them. ORUÇ;” It will be a year in which the feasibility studies we have done will be realised. In 2020, we aim to make significant progress in terms of energy efficiency and roof-land installations. We are currently in the 4th chain in our project. We have signed the delegation finance agreement, completed the preliminary study and feasibility studies in the project implementation unit, and made our official application requests to the relevant institutions. We are at the stage of completing the land allocations and preparing the first energy identity certificates of our schools where we carry out energy efficiency studies.” by saying that he conveyed the current status of the project.
Fatih Mehmet ORUÇ added; “The places where the project is implemented are educational places. Therefore, among the achievements of the project, there is the creation of clean energy awareness in students. Reducing carbon, greenhouse gas emissions will shed light on our new projects in terms of environmentally sensitive school concept. As a result of these investments, we will both produce energy and save energy. We aim to return the gains from the project back to education investments” and ended by saying.
Andrea MOSER from the German Development Bank (KfW) said: “The important thing is that the energy produced in the project contributes to meeting the additional energy demand created by the participation of persons under temporary protection status in the education system. In this respect, I should underline that our project is a very unique and special project” started by saying.
Andrea MOSER; “From KfW’s point of view, we are ready to help you to speed up the procedures and to coordinate especially in the physical implementation phase. This project is an example for all other public authorities. At the same time, it has its challenges, but we know that we have the ability to overcome them by working in trust. We anticipate that the project will attract the attention of the community and the public in an incredible way. In other words, the eyes of all public units are on us. At the next steering committee meeting, we will also have photos of concrete examples in front of us” and ended words by saying.
The meeting was concluded with meetings with distribution companies, exchange of ideas, questions and answers and souvenir photos.
