Positioning digital transformation as a strategic investment, ODAŞ has implemented technology-driven production models across a wide geography stretching from Uzbekistan to Türkiye.
Advancing toward becoming a global player in the energy, mining, and tourism sectors, ODAŞ is preparing its infrastructure and operations for the next five years through technology investments. ODAŞ COO Caner Demirayak answered BT Haber’s questions regarding the Group’s digitalization, artificial intelligence, and sustainable growth strategies.
Could you provide information about the fields in which ODAŞ operates?
As ODAŞ, we continue to grow with our integrated structure and strong investment capability across the energy, mining, and tourism sectors. In energy, which is our main focus area, we carry out innovative and high-efficiency production that contributes to Türkiye’s energy supply security. With an installed capacity of 340 MWm, the Çan2 Thermal Power Plant within our Group stands out as one of the leading examples in the private sector, thanks to its technology that directly converts domestic lignite coal into electricity and its Environmental Permit and License Certificate. It accounts for 65% of the total installed capacity in ODAŞ Group’s electricity generation portfolio. This investment, which is the largest relocation project ever carried out in Europe, was realized at an approximately 300% more economical cost compared to its counterparts. In the first three quarters of this year, we achieved 1.2 million MWh of gross electricity generation. Our energy operations also continue internationally. In Uzbekistan, we contribute to the country’s electricity needs with clean, uninterrupted, and high-efficiency production through our natural gas combined cycle power plant with an installed capacity of 174 MWe. Operating under a USD-indexed power purchase guarantee, this facility holds a critical position in terms of regional energy supply security. In mining, with our field licenses and production experience in antimony, gold, silver, nickel, and coal, we rank among Europe’s and the Middle East’s leading strategic metal producers. Through Suda Maden A.Ş., Türkiye’s only vertically integrated antimony trioxide producer, we supply valuable raw materials to the battery, defense industry, PET polyester, glass, and ceramics sectors. As of the end of October 2025, we have produced 4,920 tons of antimony trioxide and 2,044 tons of antimony ingots. Within the scope of our circular economy approach, we convert fly ash generated at the Çan2 Thermal Power Plant into products, reducing environmental impact while contributing to the economy. Since 2020, we have exported more than 1.57 million tons of products to the United States, Canada, and Europe, generating revenues exceeding USD 14 million. In line with our sustainable growth targets, we are also implementing investments in tourism. In this context, we have completed our first hotel project in Fethiye and commenced operations, successfully activating a new value creation area for our company.
Today, ODAŞ maintains a structure focused not only on Türkiye but also on globally scalable projects with high internal rates of return. Over the past seven years, we have invested more than USD 500 million in the energy, mining, and tourism sectors, making a strong contribution to our country’s development.
What is the company’s perspective on technology?
At ODAŞ, we view technology as one of the most critical elements of sustainable growth and supply security in the energy sector. Digitalization, smart grids, and artificial intelligence applications are no longer optional but have become mandatory for the industry. We position technology investments not merely as tools that improve operational processes, but as strategic investments at the core of the energy transition. Strengthening IT infrastructure, enabling real-time data processing, and managing energy supply-demand balance more accurately deliver significant gains in both efficiency and environmental impact. Our corporate objective is to secure scalable, flexible, and uninterrupted energy production through effective use of technology and thereby further strengthen our pioneering role in Türkiye’s energy transition. By taking the first step of our international growth plans in Uzbekistan, we continue to place technology at the center of new regional-scale energy projects.
Which projects have you implemented / are you implementing in line with this vision?
In line with this vision, we are implementing our digital transformation with strong and decisive steps. Recently, ODAŞ’s systems and network infrastructure were migrated to platforms offering high security and high availability. While SD-WAN technology enables centralized management of distributed structures, cybersecurity solutions were deployed to protect critical energy production processes 24/7. The IT infrastructure was renewed end-to-end and migrated to cloud-based systems, advancing the company five years ahead in terms of system continuity and cybersecurity. At the same time, we modernized our virtualization systems and elevated our data backup and disaster recovery capabilities. Thus, we established a continuous digital operations model that can be considered exemplary in the energy sector. IoT-based monitoring systems used at our Çan2 Thermal Power Plant and our natural gas combined cycle power plant in Uzbekistan enable 24/7 monitoring of production performance. This both increases operational efficiency and provides proactive contributions to Türkiye’s energy supply security. With advanced DDoS protection and early warning systems, we ensure 24/7 proactive defense for our critical infrastructures. Thanks to these digital transformation steps, we achieved a 99.9% uptime target, marking a significant success on our journey toward operational excellence. ODAŞ also considers environmental sustainability as an integral part of its digital transformation vision. Advanced flue gas treatment systems used at the Çan-2 Thermal Power Plant minimize environmental impact with 99.3% efficiency and bypass-free technology, while waste management processes are optimized through digital monitoring systems. Through IoT-based data collection infrastructure, emissions and resource usage are monitored in real time, continuously improving environmental performance. Additionally, digital analysis of process outputs enables the recovery of 700,000 tons of fly ash and 300,000 tons of gypsum, contributing to the circular economy. At the combined cycle natural gas power plant in Uzbekistan, high efficiency and low emission targets achieved through modern gas technology are supported by smart energy management systems. In this way, ODAŞ serves as a regional example of environmentally friendly, technology-driven energy production.
At ODAŞ, we view digitalization not only as a model for today but as the energy management model of the future. Therefore, we will continue to pursue our technology investments with determination, focusing on operational efficiency, sustainability, and security.
How is ODAŞ’s digitalization and AI-focused transformation journey taking shape?
ODAŞ began its journey in the energy sector and later gained experience in different fields such as mining and tourism, evolving into a multifaceted structure. As this diversity expanded with the company’s growth, the need to manage processes more effectively also increased. Adapting to changing market conditions, maintaining control over processes, and making accurate decisions have made data increasingly strategic. For this reason, technologies such as digitalization, RPA, and artificial intelligence have become a natural part of our operations. The growing volume of data made it difficult to proceed with traditional tools such as Excel. At this point, we encouraged our employees to learn more powerful database technologies such as SQL, enhancing our technical capacity and enabling healthier data management. At the same time, we supported our teams in developing applications integrated with these databases. Today, two applications developed by our employees continue to be actively used within the company, becoming tangible indicators of our internal innovation culture. As processes became more complex, manual and repetitive tasks naturally increased. To address this, a comprehensive analysis was conducted under the leadership of our business development team, and all processes—from data sources to reporting steps—were re-evaluated with an RPA focus. As a result, many daily and monthly reports regularly produced in the energy, mining, and tourism segments are now prepared by RPA robots. This achievement increased efficiency while allowing employees to dedicate more time to value-added work. We now see these robots not merely as automation tools, but as integral components of our workflow. This success with RPA led us to the next step: transferring certain decision-making mechanisms within processes to artificial intelligence. In line with this vision, over the past few months we have been working on building the necessary infrastructure and collecting the required large datasets. We place great importance on planning and data quality to ensure the healthy progression of this transformation. Particularly in areas such as invoice approval processes, where we have extensive historical experience and data accumulation, we aim to gradually deploy AI within the next few months. Through this, we aim to both increase process speed and minimize error margins. Field operations are also a key component of our digital transformation strategy. To ensure that our employees work under safe conditions, maintain correct behavioral models, and manage environmental impacts accurately, we are evaluating image processing technologies. Once the appropriate solution is identified, we plan to integrate this technology into operations gradually and in a controlled manner. The common denominator of all these efforts is that digitalization has become not a choice, but a corporate necessity for us. Accordingly, together with our Information Technologies team, we continuously monitor current technologies and provide the necessary environment for our employees to develop competencies aligned with future needs. In line with our value creation objectives, we believe that artificial intelligence will assume a stronger role in our processes. Our plans in this regard are ready, and we are sustaining this transformation on solid foundations with determination.
How do you develop your human resources during this transformation process?
At ODAŞ, we place people at the center of transformation. We believe that sustainable success is only possible through the development of human capital. Therefore, from recruitment and training systems to compensation management and internal communication, we manage all our processes based on merit, fairness, and transparency. Ensuring that our employees feel they are contributing through roles best suited to their talents and competencies is one of our core priorities. As we build the future of ODAŞ together, we support everyone in finding their own area of value within the organization. In this context, we strengthen the leadership and competencies of our mid-level managers through our Executive Development Program. Additionally, through our Well-Being Initiative, we focus on enhancing the physical, mental, and social well-being of our employees. Our performance management system is built not on individual competition, but on team spirit and a culture of collective success.
