RENEWABLE ENERGY IN TURKEY

Turkey has abundant reserves of renewable energy, such as solar, wind and geothermal. The benefits of exploiting these sources would be enormous:

• by relying completely on indigenous resources, renewables would reduce reliance on imported fuels and enhance Turkey's energy security.
• the environmental impact of renewable technologies is far less than that of nuclear and fossil fuel power plants. There are no emissions of greenhouse gases or toxic wastes;
• the cost of electricity from some renewable energy sources is already competitive with many conventional technologies, and is dropping rapidly;
• renewable technologies have no fuel costs and are virtually inexhaustible;

Solar

It has been calculated that Turkey receives sunlight equivalent to roughly 11 thousand times the amount of electricity generated in Turkey in 1996. Clearly, both photovoltaic and solar-thermal systems could be used to great effect. Use of solar thermal is already widespread. In 1995 it was calculated that solar thermal generated 52,000 tonnes-of-oil-equivalent of heat. Indications suggest that this could increase six-fold in the next 15 years. The potential for PV is virtually unlimited, and the price for these systems is declining rapidly.

Wind

Wind energy is already in use in many parts of the world at a price competitive with conventional technologies. The latest technologies can produce electricity at 4.4c/kWh, comparable to many conventional sources¹. In Turkey, w ind energy has great potential. Figures from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) show that Turkey theoretically has 160 TerraWatt hours a year of wind potential, which is equivalent to twice the country's electricity productio n in 1996.

Geothermal

Turkey has one eighth of the world's geothermal potential and is ranked 7th in the world. The cost of electricity generated from geothermal reserves is between 3-10c/kWh. The bottom end of this range is competitive with conventional systems. The Turkish G overnment has already recognised the potential of geothermal and in 1972 began to implement a program of construction which would have seen nearly 710 Megawatts installed by now. Unfortunately, the program was not fully implemented and this rich resource remains unexploited. Recently some local authorities have announced plans to utilise geothermal, but there is still a lack of coordinated support from the central Government².

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NOTES:
1) Elsam Power Pool Report, Denmark, , Jan 1997.
2) Yeni asir, 19.2.98.