Teias, the country’s electricity transmission system operator, warned organised industrial zones that power cuts for 72 hours will start as early as today or tomorrow. The move has been prompted by a gas shortage in the country. It comes as deliveries to gas-fired power plants from an Iranian pipeline have been slashed, with the Islamic Republic halting imports for 10 days.
Teias warned power supplies will be reduced to users connected to the transmission and distribution systems, except for the residential and commercial sectors.
The operator said this measure would be taken to balance electricity supply and demand.
Iranian imports to Turkey plummeted as of January 20, a move which has been blamed on a “technical failure”.
This has also not been helped by a “cold snap” of weather which has ramped up demand for the energy source.
This forced Turkey’s state-owned operator, Botas, to announce gas supply cuts of up to 40 percent to large consumers starting from January 21.
The supply cuts also hit utilities, sparking fears of electricity shortages.
Turkey relies on Iran for around 10 percent of its gas imports during winter months.
And pipeline operator on the Turkish end, Botas, said it would limit gas sold to industrial sites and power plants with high consumption as result.
But it stressed blackouts and limited gas supplies would not hit households.
This also came as Turkey has been suffering soaring costs of wholesale gas, which it imports.
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And this record was surpassed in December after the Kremlin diverted gas flow through the Yamal-Europe pipeline to the East.
This has been in effect for over 30 days and Moscow has not shown any signs of stopping.
Particularly as tension with the West soars over Russia’s mounting pressure put on Ukraine, which it looks poised to invade.
Now, as Ukraine is a key transit country which gas passes to reach the EU, there are fears that prices could soar further and shortages could get worse if Moscow attacks.
But the US has been drafting up measures to reduce the pressure put on gas supplies.
One measure involves encouraging companies to ramp up the production of liquified natural gas (LNG).
Washington’s “contingency plans” would allow for increased supplies of LNG come from companies in the Middle East, North Africa and Asia to ease shortages.
And Turkey already imports (LNG) at times when wholesale gas prices are ramped up.
But analysts at US investment bank Stifel said have warned there may not be enough LNG to make up for the shortfall of pipeline gas in Europe.
Analysts Chris Wheaton and David Round, said: “It’s not pretty. Energy rationing would be inevitable in this scenario, which would be disastrous for the European economy.”