Renewable Energy at Turkey

Renewable energy
Turkey’s renewable energy sources are plentiful and extensive and represent the second-largest domestic energy source after coal. Primary renewable energy resources in Turkey are: hydro, biomass, wind, biogas, geothermal and solar.

Geothermal energy
Turkey ranks 7th worldwide in geothermal resources which yield a potential of 2000 MWe (electricity) and 31.500 MWt (thermal), whereas the installed capacity is only 20 MWe and 1,077 MWt.

Wind energy
Turkey has one of the highest potential for wind energy in Europe and there exists an economical potential of 10.000 MW. As of 2007, the installed capacity has increased to 200 MW, with a further 600 MW in construction.

Solar energy
Turkey lies in a sunny belt between 36º and 42ºN latitudes. The yearly average solar radiation is 3.6 kWh/m2-day and the total yearly radiation period is approximately 2640 h, which is sufficient to provide adequate energy for solar thermal applications. Technical solar potential stands at 76 Mtoe. Photovoltaic applications in the country currently stand at around 1000 kW, and are mainly installed in areas where electricity transmission is not economically feasible. In spite of this high potential, solar energy is not now widely used, except for flat-plate solar collectors.

Hydro power
There are 436 sites available for hydroelectric plant construction, distributed on 26 main river zones. The total gross potential and total energy production of these sites are nearly 50 GW and 112 TWh/yr, respectively, and about 30% of the total gross potential may be economically exploitable.

Biomass energy
Considering the natural resources and extent of agro-economic infrastructure, Turkey also has a significant potential in biomass. As of 2003, 15 million tons of forest residues and 5, 4 million ton of plant and animal wastes are used for the production of energy. However, it is estimated that around 50-60 million tons of animal wastes and 50-100 million tons of agro-industry wastes can be used for production of energy. Among the renewable energy sources, biomass is important because its share of total energy consumption is still high in Turkey. Since 1980, the contribution of the biomass resources in the total energy consumption dropped from 20% to 8% in 2005.