The Business Year Special Report
Yusuf Bahadır Turhan Founder, YBT Energy
YBT Energy is taking the COVID-19 pandemic in stride, making positive changes in its office model and looking forward to a government more open to renewable energy.
• Interview
How has YBT Energy adapted its operations to cope with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic?
YBT Energy is an energy investment company that develops renewable energy projects from greenfield until operation—we finance and operate power plants. Our operations at the power plants have not been heavily affected by the pandemic, because procedures are relatively simple, with usually no more than two people onsite. We have put handwashing stations supplied masks to our staff. As for the main office, we transitioned to a home-office model. I am considering continuing this after the pandemic is over. Most of my employees can work from home and are more efficient that way, especially the design department; however, accounting and finance are more comfortable working at the office. This is a great opportunity for us to review our working style.
What medium or long-term impact on demand for renewable energy will the fallout of the pandemic have?
I expect it to affect us positively. The pandemic showed us that we need decentralization in our sector. Distributed generation is a hot topic in renewables. It also showed it is more difficult to operate big power plants where thousands of people work. In taking precautions for upcoming pandemics, there will be more demand and more push and incentive from the government for renewable energy. It is cleaner, easier to operate, and takes fewer people to make it run, with only one person per shift.
Can you outline YBT Energy’s current investments and where you are hoping to grow in the future?
We have a total of 30MW of power generation in three hydroelectric and three solar power plants. We also have one of the few licensed solar power plants in Turkey. For future investments, we have solar power projects in Turkey. The future of renewables is in solar, while others will be auxiliary. With the emergence of storage technology, solar will dominate the future of energy production.
What are the biggest operational or regulatory challenges you face?
We do not face many technical operational difficulties because of our insistence on high standards and use of professionals—both from Turkey and internationally. Our biggest challenges come from local and national governments. Most of our operations are in Turkey’s rural areas, where local governments and people who have questions and concerns. Since we operate in their areas, we have a duty to educate them. We always explain if we cannot accommodate a demand for whatever reason. In Turkey, energy regulations change rapidly—sometimes 180 degrees—which can be difficult to manage. We embrace the role of educator and approach government institutions to explain the consequences of a regulatory change. Working with local governments takes up around 10-15% of our work, and working with regulators and coping with regulatory change takes up about 30-40% of our work.
“With the emergence of storage technology, solar will dominate the future of energy production.”
How have changes in government policy towards electricity generation impacted the solar sector?
In regard to regulations, our government has moved away from a policy of supporting renewable energy projects toward thermal power plants. Luckily, renewables fit under Turkey’s local and national strategy, but so do thermal power plants because they increasingly operate with local coal. Because of politics, renewables have fallen by the wayside. This will be put to the test when the renewable energy support mechanism, YEKDEM, is replaced at the end of 2020. New power plants are difficult to invest in in Turkey, but there are opportunities on the horizon. For example, there is new legislation for hybrid power plants. We are now allowed to add solar panels to hydroelectric plants. Later, we could add wind turbines to our solar power plants. While there are some opportunities, they are not as big as we would like. That is why we are looking abroad, especially at the EU, Romania, and Hungary. If there are opportunities in Turkey, we would be happy to invest; however, with projects being postponed, and mechanisms and incentives coming to an end, we see more potential abroad.