Turkey requires a budget of 35 billion Turkish liras for smart grids, according to Yasar Arslan, chairman of the Union of Natural Gas Distribution Companies of Turkey (GAZBIR) on Wednesday.
Speaking at the 6th International Istanbul Smart Grids and Cities Congress and Fair (ICSG 2018), Arslan said that such a budget is required to upgrade the country's 42.5 million electric meters and 14.2 million gas meters with smart grids.
He added that to transform electricity meters, 21 billion liras would be needed, while gas meters would need an investment of 14 billion liras.
Arslan stated that an investment of 21.5 billion liras for natural gas distribution was completed at the end of 2017, in which a grid length of 130 thousand kilometers was reached.
He added that by the end of 2017, investments totaling US$350-400 billion were made worldwide for smart grids, while plans are afoot to further invest $268 billion over the next 10 years.
Reporting by Nuran Erkul Kaya
Writing by Firdevs Yuksel
Anadolu Agency
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