International Istanbul smart grids congress held in Istanbul

The International Istanbul Smart Grids Congress was held in Istanbul yesterday with the participation of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Science, Industry and Technology Minister Nihat Ergun and Energy Minister Taner Yildiz. Speaking at the congress meeting, Erdogan said, "Our power needs will double in the next decade. Now we have been importing 72 percent of our energy needs, but we will not need to import one-third of our current natural gas imports when our nuclear plants are online, saving $7.2 billion annually." Erdogan also said that maybe Turkey would build its own third nuclear plant with its local resources. "We have already started to train our engineers and other workforce in this regard," Erdogan noted, adding that safety measures would be applied at maximum levels, considering the lessons from unfortunate nuclear plant accidents, lately in Fukushima.