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equipment and technology. As a result, find-
ing a place on the business and operational
sides makes more sense. The first thing I did
when I began working here was to look at
the opportunities that could be found in the
regions in which Tekfen was already active.
For instance, in Jordan, tender was put out
for a 200 megawatt-capacity plant. Another
tender was announced in Morocco. Saudi
Arabia announced it would launch a thou-
sand-plus gigawatt investment in the renew-
able energy sector by the year 2020. How-
ever, to be a part of such projects, one needs
references first. To qualify for bidding, one
not only has to have made investments of at
least 100-200 megawatts in wind power and
50-60 megawatts in solar, one is also expect-
ed to have operated these installments for a
few years at least. In this context, we decid-
ed to first look at what we could accomplish
in Turkey. In Europe now, more than half of
the investments in the energy sector are in
wind and solar power. Renewable energy is
one of the fastest growing industries. Al-
though the profit margins may have fallen
slightly over the last few years, there is still a
huge amount of business to be done. In a
relatively mature market such as Turkey’s,
one cannot find the huge profit-making
projects of old, but as the sector is now firm-
ly settled here, things operate more smooth-
ly. What we would like to do is start a project
in Turkey where we can forecast outcomes to
a degree and then move on to countries with
higher profit margins. This could be in the
Balkans or in the Middle East, or in any of
the CIS countries. As for geothermal energy
plants, these are the type of facilities Tekfen
is more accustomed to build. But if we are
talking about wind and solar energy, it
would make more sense to be an investor in-
stead.
Tekfen generally conducts business in
oil and gas-rich countries. Is there a
place for renewable energy in these
countries?
Sinan Seyhun:
Several oil and gas-rich
countries, from the UAE to Qatar and from
Kuwait to Saudi Arabia, have recently an-
nounced plans for investment in this area.
This is a business with investments that are
worth tens of billions of dollars. The most
competitive tenders may very well be of-
fered in these countries, as it is these coun-
tries that are looking to generate electricity
as economically as possible. Last year in Abu
Dhabi, the cost of solar energy was reduced
to 3 cents per kilowatt per hour. This obvi-
ously attracts a great deal of interest. More-
over, as a result of financial and state sup-
port, these countries are very good places in
which to invest.
İlda Değirmentaş:
The Middle East is
abundant in oil but not in water. There are
many desalination plants in the region but
these plants requires huge amounts of en-
ergy to run, which is why generating energy
and producing drinking water as cheaply as
possible using solar power have become pri-
ority areas. It is a topic that frequently
comes up at international water summits
and conferences.
Fatih Can:
Salinity levels in the Persian
Gulf have risen dramatically as a result of
the desalination plants, and this has upset
the entire ecological balance of the region.
The issue is not just water, naturally. Life ex-
pectancies have risen worldwide and the
world population is increasing rapidly. In
the not too distant future, it is clear that
this will all have profound consequences on
our children’s lives. We now have a duty not
to pollute so much and to consume less, and
these realities will inevitably have an effect
on our business. That is why we must always
act with the future in mind.
As the Business Development Depart-
ment, when looking at the people sit-
ting around this table, the importance
given to renewable energy is quite
clear. In this regard, we would like to
become better acquainted with the
newcomers to the firm and hear some
of their ideas.
Cihan Kaçar (Project Development En-
gineer, Renewable Energy):
I joined the
team only a couple of months ago. I started
in the energy sector in 2008 at a German-
based wind turbine manufacturing firm. Af-
ter that, I moved on to another German
firm, an engineering consultancy firm,
where I worked for 6 years. Tekfen is a firm
looking to invest in the field of energy.
There is a stream of new projects that are
continually developing and being developed.
We assess each one thoroughly and try to
see how they would pan out. We are also
careful that the projects are environmental-
ly friendly. When I applied for this position,
I did not know that Tekfen was looking to
invest in renewable energy. It was a surprise
for me, and it naturally increased my inter-
est in Tekfen yet further.
Engin Aytekin (Investment Assessment
Specialist):
I also joined the Tekfen family
recently, 5 months ago. What I do is create
financial models for investments in the
fields of renewable energy and PPP (Public
Private Partnership). I am familiar with the
energy sector, thanks to my previous jobs.
The difference between Tekfen and the com-
panies I have previously worked is that Tek-
fen pays great attention to detail and is far
more risk-averse. For instance, when pre-
paring to bid for a tender for an energy li-
cence, we proceed as though we have already
been awarded the project and go into min-
ute details, as though we are about to begin
operating the plant itself. I have seen deci-
sions made in the sector with far more su-
perficial work. In the period since my join-
ing Tekfen, we have been working closely
with banks in order to formulate financing
models. We want these models to determine
the prices we offer when bidding for tender.
Mert Sözdinletir (Business Develop-
ment Engineer):
I recently completed my
first year at Tekfen, and during this period, I
have had the chance to get to know the Tek-
fen family better. I already knew a little
about Tekfen frommy internship here when
I was a student and from graduate friends
from Bosphorus University. However, since
starting work, I have noticed that the most
important thing here is the corporate struc-
ture. There is a settled structure here and a
well-established tradition. As the Business
Development Department, we work on for-
mulating the company’s strategy and future
business. We conduct analyses and studies
in order to be more competitive. We are con-
stantly monitoring the markets and the de-
veloping world. For example, a few weeks
ago when I was in the elevator, I happened
to bump into a banker; that banker will soon
be coming here for a meeting with us to dis-
cuss credit availability for our projects. You
can never tell when or from where an oppor-
tunity may arise. Whilst surfing the web the
other day, I saw a tender for CERN, the Eu-
ropean Nuclear Research Centre. We are
planning on submitting a bid for it as Tekfen
Manufacturing and our Steel Manufactur-
ing Plant in Ceyhan, Southeast Turkey.
What we are trying to do is expand our vi-
sion as much as possible.
As technology, business time scales
and economic conditions rapidly
evolve on the global level, are there
any outside organisations you consult
or with which you collaborate in order
to keep track of developments re-
garding the directions the sector will
take?
Mert Sözdinletir:
In this regard, we are
constantly reading and observing. Not just
the news channels but also research reports
and articles and papers by strategists. We
also get information from various institutes
and universities.