Azerbaijan, Baku, September 25 / Trend, A. Tagiyeva /
In Turkey's domestic market, natural gas is cheaper than in the 28 EU countries, despite the fact that Turkey imports it at a price not lower than in those countries, Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Taner Yildiz said, TRT Haber TV Channel reported on Wednesday.
According to him, Turkey has achieved this through the use of alternative energy sources such as hydro and wind power plants.
"Last year, all the wind power plants in Turkey produced 5.7 billion kilowatt hours of electricity that is just as much as all the houses in Ankara consume," the Minister said.
If the wind power plants in Turkey had not produced electricity last year, the country would have had to pay $ 500 million for additional imports of natural gas, Yildiz said.
From January-April 2013 the Turkish state pipeline company Botas imported 12.61 billion cubic meters of gas from a variety of sources compared to 15.8 billion cubic meters in the same period of 2012.
From January-April 2013, in Turkey's domestic market 13.95 billion cubic meters of gas was realized compared to 16.02 billion cubic meters of gas in the same period last year.