The Turkish Energy Minister, Berat Albayrak, declared that Turkey expects the first unit of its planned $20b Akkuyu nuclear power plant, being built in collaboration with Russia, to be online by the end of 2023, reported Reuters.

The initial agreement on the nuclear power plant was signed between Turkey and Russia in 2010. The power plant consists of four nuclear reactors and an installment capacity of 4,800MW, according to Daily Sabah. The nuclear plant is in the southern province of Mersin is the first of three nuclear power plants Turkey.

During a presentation to parliament outlining his ministry’s budget for 2017, Albayrak added that Turkey would focus on enhancing supply security in natural gas and electricity and using as much domestic and renewable energy sources as possible. He stated that Turkey’s total power generation capacity has risen to 78,072MW as of end of September, with 2,097 production plants. Additionally, Turkey plans to become a major hub for energy trading, particularly for natural gas. Plans were being accelerated for additional natural gas storage, and for a floating storage regasification unit (FSRU) for liquefied natural gas (LNG).