“The dream for an energy supply based on 100% renewable energies is coming true.”
“The revolutionary developments in technology as well as in legal frameworks make it possible for the national use of secure, sustainable and competitively priced renewable energy sources.”[1]
As known, Turkey has abundant reserves of renewable energy sources. The most important renewable sources of Turkey’s energy sector are electrical, solar in its various forms, wind, biomass and geothermal; and the benefits of exploiting these sources would be enormous.
Turkey, both geographically and geopolitically, situated in a region that makes it a natural “energy bridge” between the major proven oil and natural gas producing areas in the Middle East, Caspian Sea regions and Central Asia on the one hand and consumer markets in Europe on the other. Moreover, Turkey, itself, is a rapidly growing energy consumer. Due to its demographic and economic growth, Turkey constitutes a major energy market, as well as playing an active role within the projects to ensure the diversification of both energy resources and transport routes.
It is envisaged that the world energy consumption, of which is expected to increase by approximately 40 % within the next 20 years, will be fulfilled by the region where Turkey is located. [2]
Turkey’s total installed power of the Power Plants commissioned within 2010 is 3.674,5 MW, out of which 1.324,6 MW portion of it is the Power Plants producing electricity from Renewable Energy Resources, energy distribution by the Electricity producing Power Plants originating:
- 474 MW of it from wind power
- 816,6 MW of it from hydraulic
- 17 MW of it from geothermal
- 17 MW of it from landfill gas and biogas
Looking ahead, the energy supply from renewables for future must be wisely structured to make use of all our resources, such as;
- ELECTRICAL ENERGY:
As of end of 2008, the 17% of the electricity produced in Turkey has been obtained through Renewable Energy Resources. As per revised strategy document for Electricity Sector, this ratio is aimed to reach 20% by the year 2020.
Turkey’s total installed electricity capacity is around 45,000MW1 while about 16,000MW of this figure constitutes renewable energy capacity. Further, 16,000MW also includes large Hydro Electricity power plants that fall out of the scope of “renewable energy resources” under the Renewable Energy Law.
1000 MW Renewable Power has been installed in 2009 by private sector and 19,6% of Turkey’s electricity has been produced thru Renewable Energy Resources. [3]
- Cross Border Electricity Trade between Turkey and ENTSO-E’s Continental Europe Synchronous Area:³
“On 18 September 2010, the Turkish power system was synchronized to the interconnected power systems of Continental Europe and entered the stabilization period.
Turkish Electricity System is connected to the Bulgarian Electricity System by two 400 kV transmission lines, and by one 400 kV transmission line to the Greek Electricity System. The cross-border trade is possible in four directions: Bulgaria-Turkey, Turkey-Bulgaria, Greece-Turkey and Turkey-Greece. Both Bulgaria and Greece are members of ENTSO-E.”
With the Amendment Law No. 6094 of 29 December, 2010, Turkish Parliament amended the Law on Utilization of RES for Generating Electrical Energy of 10/05/2005 no 5346.
The Amendment Law introduces amendments to improve the incentive mechanism of the electrical energy generated by the license holders and encourage renewable energy investment opportunities in Turkey. Renewable Energy Resources (RES) are non-fossil energy resources such as hydraulic, wind, solar, geothermal, biomass, biogas (including landfill gas – LFG), wave, current and tidal energy.
RES Support Mechanism
Generation Licence Holders who are subject to RES Support Mechanism and who have commenced or will commence operating as of the date this Law became effective on 18 May 2005 till 31 December 2015 shall benefit from the fixed prices for a period of 10 years.
Exempted production
In the event that real persons and entities generating electrical energy from Renewable Energy Resources shall export their surplus productions to the distribution system, they can benefit from the fixed prices for a term of 10 years.
Use of domestic products
In the event that the mechanical and/or electro-mechanical equipment used in the production facilities of license holder entities based on the Renewable Energy Resources are manufactured domestically; domestic participation rate will be added to the fixed prices and shall be applicable for a period of 5 years from the date of commencement of commercial operation of the relevant production facility.
Land Usage Fee Incentives
A discount of 85% for permission, lease, rights of easement and servitude right fees based on renewable energy resources, their transportation roads and transmission lines to the system connection point, including those to be transferred to distribution companies or the “TEİAŞ” will be applicable for the first 10 years, including the period of investment and operation. Pursuant to the Amendment Law, this discount is applicable for the generation facilities which become operative by 31 December 2015, including facilities which were already operational at the date of enactment of the Amendments.
Permission shall be granted for the construction of energy production facilities based on renewable energy resources in national and natural parks, natural monuments and nature preservation sites, preservation forests, conserved forestry, wildlife development zones, special environmental protection zones provided that the necessary permissions are obtained from the Ministry of Environment and from the regional protection board in case of natural preservation areas.
- SOLAR ENERGY:
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. The potential for PV is virtually unlimited, and the price for these systems is declining rapidly.
Solar Power Specific Restrictions:
According to the Amendment Law on Utilization of Renewable Energy Resources in Electricity Generation, the total installed capacity of solar power generation plants with RES Certificates that connect to the transmission line before 31/12/2013 cannot exceed 600MW, limiting the number of solar power-based generation facilities entitled to an RES Certificate.
- WIND ENERGY:
Wind energy is already in use in many parts of the world at a competitive price with conventional technologies. In this context, Renewable Energy Resources appear to be one of the most efficient and effective solutions for sustainable energy development.
In Turkey, wind energy potential is high; consequently same applies to the investment of wind energy. Turkey has a land surface area of about 800.000 km². Being surrounded with Black Sea in the north, The Marmara and the Aegean in the west and the Mediterranean in the south, Turkey has a very long coast line of 8500 km and the most attractive regions for wind energy applications. These regions are highly suitable for wind power generation, since the wind speed exceeds 3 m/s in most of these areas. It has ideal climate for wind and solar energy investments, with an average of more than 7 (seven) hours of sunshine a day and wind speed of 7.7 m/s average coming from Aegean, Black and Mediterranean seas. Turkey has the highest share in technical wind energy potential in Europe.
As per revised strategy document for Electricity Sector, it is aimed to reach 20.000 MW by the year 2020, also wind energy investors are targeting to produce the 20 % of Turkey’s total electricity by the year 2023.
- GEOTHERMAL ENERGY:
Turkey has one eighth of the world’s geothermal potential and is ranked 7th in the world.
The Turkish Government 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.
- BIOMASS ENERGY
Turkey has always been one of the major agricultural countries in the world. Agriculture is becoming more important due to biomass energy being one of the major resources in Turkey. Various agricultural residues are available in Turkey as the sources of biomass energy. Utilization of biomass is a very attractive energy resource, since biomass uses local feed stocks and labour. Turkey relies on biomass to provide much of its energy requirement. More efficient use of biomass in producing energy, both electrical and thermal, may allow Turkey to reduce petroleum imports, thus affecting its balance of payments dramatically.
Pursuant to the Law on Utilization of RES for Generating Electrical Energy of 10/05/2005 no 5346 Biomass is defined as; resources obtained from agricultural and forestry products including vegetable oil wastes, agricultural harvesting wastes as well as from organic wastes, and from the by-products formed after their processing.
According to Turkey’s Biogas Plant Inventory; almost 180 million m3 annually biogas produced from 20 running biogas plants. Recently landfill gas extraction gained importance (total capacity 162,7 million m3/year). The efficiency ratio is between 30-38% electricity and 80-85% overall depending on various parameters. Operating cost, especially labour cost is cheap in Turkey. Turkey has potential of 2000 plants with each capacity of 500 kWel.
In future scenarios based on surveys, biogas can be used in a carbon negative energy system and help reduce climate change, by capturing and storing the carbon dioxide from biogas into the ground, the climate neutral biogas becomes carbon negative, and scrubs our past CO2 emissions out of the atmosphere.
[1] These words are taken from the latest International 100% Renewable Energy Conference and Exhibition held between 6-8 October, 2011 in Istanbul, organized by EUROSOLAR Turkey, The Turkish Division of European Association for Renewable.
[2] Excerpt taken from the Minister of Energy & Natural Resources – Taner Yıldız’s presentation of 2011 Budget of the Energy & Natural Resources Ministry at Turkish Grand National Assembly – Parliamentary Counsel.
[3] These figures are based on the statistics on Turkey’s installed capacity in 2009 disclosed in the web site of TEIAS (Turkish Electricity Transmission Company).