Renewable energy strategy in Turkey and the analysis of renewable energy strategy of Federal Republic of Germany

Especially after the industrial revolution, most countries used fossile fuels as the main energy source. Because of the fact that fossil fuels are not available in every region of the world, their effects on the global climate and human health in a very short time compared to the world history, the dependence of states on energy resources to provide production, power and prosperity have been one of the important concerns of states. In the history of the world, states have entered into long-lasting wars to dominate energy resources and power. Still, it can be easliy seen that the biggest problems between states are energy and power wars. The nuclear energy developed and used in the second world war emerged as a clean energy used in electricity generation after the war. However, the radioactive waste problem created by this technology and the accidents that occurred in both Chernobyl and Fukushima caused the perception that this shining nuclear energy was not clean as thought. These developments and international concerns led to an increase in the search for alternative energy sources. In fact, renewable energy sources such as sun, wind and biomass, which are the first energy sources used by humanity since the existence of the world, can be controlled and operated in a sustainable manner in time. With the development of technology and its integration into these processes, renewable energy has come into the interest of states as a clean energy source that can replace fossil resources and therefore the development of policies in this regard has come to the fore. These policies required complex legal regulations and allocation of large budgets due to the relevance of energy to many sectors. Each country has brought support in the field of energy within the framework of its policies that it has shaped according to its own capacity. These have sometimes targeted directly energy and mostly electricity generation businesses, sometimes smart technologies, sometimes individuals, residences or the agricultural sector. Likewise with the global trends in renewable energy, Turkey has brought significant improvements in this area since the early 2000s. The most important of these developments is the Law No. 5346 on the Use of Renewable Energy Resources for the Purpose of Generating Electrical Energy, which entered into force in 2005. In the process of implementing this law, changes have been made in many relevant laws, various targets have been set in development plans, and energy efficiency and renewable energy action plans have been introduced. With these plans, renewable energy has now become an integral part of the economy. Undoubtedly, Germany is one of the most important global actors in renewable energy. The issue of energy resources, which was also a big problem in the second world war, evolved into development by using nuclear technology after the war. However, Germany, the creator of nuclear technology, started a major transformation with the Renewable Energy Law (EEG), which was enacted in 2000, and entered a period of complete exiting from nuclear energy over time. Germany initiated the Energy Transformation (Energiewende) in this process, which is also influenced by the Greens Party. In this transformation period based on sustainable development, environmental protection, technology development and exportation, Germany has tried to convince the public while developing policies for the solution of many problems. In this period, Germany implements and follows up the studies on new generation nuclear energy technologies, such as fusion energy, which can fundamentally change the concept of clean energy in the future, with projects such as Wendelstein 7 X at the national level and ITER at the global level. These technologies are also supported by other states such as the United States of America and China with intensive studies. If these technologies are put into practice, unlimited and clean energy will lead to the development of an important paradigm in renewable energy. Due to the continuation of the process and developments, in this study, the strategies of Turkey and Federal Republic of Germany in the renewable energy field are examined and a survey was conducted in Turkey to see the public's interest to developments in the field of renewable energy.