MEHMET VOLKAN DUMAN
Energy Manager, Manufacturing Industry Department
T.C. South Marmara Development Agency, TR
Bio
Mehmet Volkan Duman has been working at South Marmara Development Agency since 2014, where he has devoted most of his practice to mining activities, advanced materials, defence industry, energy efficiency, renewable energy technologies, green hydrogen, recycle and reuse within the context of sustainable development. He has produced reports and strategy documents for these sectors, including relevant action plans. He has completed the evaluation and monitoring phase of more than 100 regional projects in these fields. In his career, a special emphasis should be placed on the green hydrogen economy. The first regional basic hydrogen roadmap in Türkiye was created by him and he has published several papers and reports on green hydrogen policies. In addition, he has participated as an invited speaker and has given many presentations in many organizations. Prior to 2014, he spent 7 years in the mining sector. Except his first job at one of the metal recycling plants, this was his first long-term professional experience. With this fresh start in mining sector, boron became the main element of his new career until the end of the year 2013. He worked at different production sites so he became familiar with many different chemical processes. He had two main responsibilities at Eti Maden; he was the Head of Laboratory which had 50 workers, 1 chemist and 3 chemical engineers; and also he was in charge of wastewater treatment plant used for boron removal from the base water of the open pit mines. The boron treatment plant is the first of its kind in Türkiye. He wrote a master's thesis on this facility and his articles were published in important journals. He earned many certificates for critical laboratory insturements among which XRF is one of the most crucial ones. He has three user certificates for three different brands of XRF instruments. And now; he is the project coordinator of Türkiye's first Hydrogen Valley Project and also he is the project officer of a national project titled "South Marmara Hydrogen Shore Platform" in which Türkiye's first domestic green hydrogen pilot plant will be installed.
Presentation
Hydrogen Economy in Turkey
The European Union and its members have been taking bold steps on clean hydrogen over the last few years. Electrolyzer capacities are increasing along with renewable energy investments. These new investments are supported by various national and Union support mechanisms. Türkiye should set a clear vision in order not to fall behind this green transformation and, more importantly, to eliminate the financial obligations that Turkish companies will face as a result of European Green Deal. European Union, to which 50% of the Türkiye’s products exports, approaching a protectionist line with the carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) so initial steps should be taken quickly by Türkiye. According to 2020 data, Türkiye ranks 12th in the world in terms of renewable installed capacity. Türkiye is one of the leading countries in the global arena in terms of renewable resource diversity and potential with a total area of 1 million 245 thousand km2 including territorial waters, continental shelf and exclusive economic zone. Türkiye, with its large surface area, needs to create regional models before taking nation-wide decisions, especially on new & renewable energy technologies and emerging trends. In this sense, the only and the best way to use our limited sources efficiently would be to first create an ecosystem in relevant technologies through clusters in the most favorable regions with regional incentives, and then support the process by taking nation-wide decisions.
The development process of the South Marmara Hydrogen ecosystem, which officially started in 2018 with the expert reports and regional strategy documents published by GMKA, paved the way for two hydrogen projects that will be considered as the most concrete steps for the region and Türkiye. While focusing on increasing the installed capacity in the production of green hydrogen and its derivatives, the Agency has given an important place in its policies to the development of domestic capacity in the critical equipment of green hydrogen technologies and has decided to support initiatives in this direction in order not to obligate Türkiye to new foreign dependencies. Among those two hydrogen projects, the contract for the Guided Project titled "South Marmara Hydrogen Shore Platform" was signed on March 15, 2023 and the implementation period started. When it comes to EU-funded "South Marmara Hydrogen Shore - HYSouthMarmara" Valley Project, which has been developed in integration with the Guided Project, has a much wider scope with 8 work packages and its grant agreement was signed on June 30, 2023. HYSouthMarmara Valley Project, which has a total budget of 37.8 MEUR, set a record for Türkiye in the history of Horizon Europe Framework Programs with 8 MEUR grant support.