Potential and Use of Renewable Energy Resources in Turkey

Full text

ISSN: 1304-7981
Number: 12, Year: 2016, Pages: 81-87
http://jnrs.gop.edu.tr
Received: 15.05.2016
Invited Editor: Mahmut Hekim
Accepted: 20.09.2016
Area Editor: Zafer Dogan
Potential and Use of Renewable Energy Resources in Turkey
İlknur DEMİRa,1
Cem EMEKSİZa,2
(ilknur.demir61@gmail.com)
(cem.emeksiz@gop.edu.tr)
a Gaziosmanpaşa University, Faculty of Engineering and Naturel Science, Department of Electrical and
Electronics, 60240 Tokat
Abstract – This study compares the state of renewable energy
sources in our country in comparison with the world in general
while also examining their usage areas. Renewable energy sources
with a potential for generating energy in our country are solar
energy, hydraulic systems, geothermal energy, biomass energy and
wind energy. Especially wind and solar energy potentials have
received significant attention. The installed power based on
renewable energy in Turkey and the electrical energy generated
have been examined comparatively. Information was provided
about the general potential of the installed WEP in Turkey, the cost
effectiveness of energy generation, development of energy
generation technology in addition to the necessity of clean
environment and clean energy. Turkey has a rich potential with
regard to renewable energy sources. The problems with regard to
energy deficit in our country will be minimized when the
renewable energy sources that have received significant attention
in recent years are used actively. Thus, the energy problem in our
country will have been partially solved while also decreasing
foreign-source dependency in the field of energy.
Keywords -
Renewable Energy,
Renewable Sources,
Wind Power, Solar
Power, Statistics
1
Corresponding Author

Journal of New Results in Science 12 (2016) 81-87 82
1. Introduction
Energy problem that has been ongoing since the 1970’s continues to increase in
recent years as a result of the increasing industrialization activities and industrialization due
to technological advancements. At first, there was a shift towards conventional energy
sources to meet the increasing energy demand all over the world. However, the studies
carried out have put forth the necessity of making use of renewable energy sources due to
the limited life of conventional energy sources as well as the disproportionate increase in
the processed fuel oil or gas prices. This has been supported by the fact that the costs for
establishing renewable energy source plants are now comparable with those of
conventional sources, that the efficiency of the batteries has been increased as a result of
innovations in solar cells used in photovoltaic batteries, developments in materials science
and the ability to meet energy demand in a functional manner by converting wind energy
into electricity. Energy obtained from exhaustible energy sources result in air pollution,
water pollution, noise and electromagnetic pollution. The increase of such problems has
increased the importance of renewable energy sources resulting in more support to projects
developed for these purposes. Even though the use of conventional sources has not been
abandoned completely, it has been estimated according to acquired data that 10-15% of the
total electrical energy generated will be supplied by renewable energy sources within the
next 15 years. More efficient systems are being developed using renewable energy sources
of sun, wind, hydraulic, hydrogen, biomass as well as hybrid systems which combine these
renewable sources. The shift towards renewable energy sources will provide a more
optimum environment with regard to clean environment and clean energy. When similar
applications in the world are examined, it can be observed that many countries such as
USA, China, Germany and Holland make use of wind and solar energy sources. Renewable
energy generation in these countries made up 0.1% of the total energy production in the
world. Whereas the contribution of Turkey to this total energy generation is close to zero.
2. Use of Renewable Energy in Turkey
Solar energy is used for home-office heating, meeting water demand, thermal
systems and solar cells. In addition, it is also used in calculators, street lamps, traffic
signalization applications and for meeting the electricity demand of communication
facilities at locations that are far away from the mains [1].
The main usage area of wind energy is electricity generation and the charging of
batteries and storage using the generated electricity. Wind energy proceeds from the
different heating of land surfaces by solar radiation and thus solar energy is the main source
of wind energy. When the distribution in our country of the power plants that generate
electricity from wind energy is examined, it is observed that they are mostly scattered
around the Aegean, Mediterranean and Marmara Regions. This is due to the fact that the
current energy potential is higher in these regions. Establishing facilities close to the energy
sources prevents problems that might occur in the transmission of energy to areas that
require it as well as to power plants that are far away from the region thereby decreasing
energy losses. Wind energy stations are mostly located in the coastal area of the Aegean
Region with the remainder in İstanbul, Hatay and Osmaniye. Economic wind potential is
around 48 GW corresponding to about around 120 million kWh [2].

Journal of New Results in Science 12 (2016) 81-87 83
However, studies indicate that only 3,1 GW portion of this potential can be used
until 2020. A total of 112,5 billion kWh electrical energy generation would have been
generated if it was possible to use the remaining wind energy potential effectively in
Turkey. Table 1 and Table 2 shows the wind potential installed power and total installed
power graphs for Turkey ranging between the years of 2000-2016.
Table 1: Installed power of wind potential in Turkey [3]
Table 2: Total installed power graphs for Turkey [4]
Existing wind potential has started to be used since 2012 and an increase has been
observed in the installed power amount for generating electricity from wind energy. The
electricity generation of wind energy stations that can be monitored in Turkey has been
parallel with the estimations that have been made. The share of the contribution of

Journal of New Results in Science 12 (2016) 81-87 84
electricity generated from wind energy in the installed power has increased with the
increase of licensed installed power plants. However, this is not the case for unlicensed
production. In this case, the increase in production (small production values) and the
number of power plants does not provide a significant increase in the total amount of
renewable energy generated. The numerical data related with the use of renewable energy
in Turkey have been given in Table 3.
Table 3: Use of renewable energy in Turkey [5]
Renewable
energy
resource
Total brut
potential
(GWh/year)
Technical
potential
(GWh/year)
Economic
potential
(GWh/year)
Potential in
use
(GWh/year)
Utilization
(%)
Hydraulic
430-450
215
100-130
35330
30
Solar
365
182
91**
4.07
4.5
Biogas
1.58
0.79*
0.4**
0.067
16.8
Wind
400
124
98
61
62
Jeothermal
16
8*
4**
0.89
22.5
* : brut potential for %50
**: technical potential for %50
Accordingly, even though it seems that wind energy is used the most when
compared with the current potential and use, highest efficiency is gained from hydraulic
energy generation systems. The flow rate of water is indirectly or directly transformed into
electrical energy in hydraulic energy generation. Whereas annually about 35.330 GWh
energy is generated according to current potential, 61 GWh energy is generated by wind
energy power plants. This is followed by solar energy based systems with 4,07 GWh.
Geothermal energy is another form of renewable energy. This energy that stems from the
heat of the earth is used in heating systems, health sector as well as fields such as
agriculture and greenhouse cultivation. Even though there is a significant potential in our
country with regard to renewable energy sources and even though this potential can meet a
high portion of the energy demand of our country, these sources are either not used at all or
are used at a level that is below their potential.
3. Conclusions
The existence and variety of energy sources are very important for meeting the
energy demand required for the development of a county. Turkey has a rich potential with
regard to renewable sources to be used for clean energy. Even though the energy generated
from renewable energy sources in Turkey cannot yet provide a significant contribution to
the total amount of energy generated in the world, high efficiency can be obtained from
applications where it is used directly. Technologies have been developed for transforming
renewable energy into electrical energy. In this regard, hydraulic sources, wind energy,
geothermal sources and solar collectors (solar-photovoltaic cells) are systems which are
best suited for transformation into electrical energy. It is not appropriate to call systems
with no sustainability as reliable sources. Wind and solar energy based systems contribute
to the energy deficit in the mains despite their unpredictable nature. Such hybrid systems
are used for meeting the electrical energy demand in establishments for which it is
problematic to transmit energy from the mains. Surplus electrical energy is transmitted to

Journal of New Results in Science 12 (2016) 81-87 85
the national mains via required system tools and sold to TEİAŞ. Hence, the installation
expenses can be amortized. Even the most problem free source damages the environment
during installation. However, wind and solar energy from among renewable energy sources
cause less damage during installation in comparison with other sources (hydraulic
systems). R&D activities on WEP have increased in recent years along with completed
projects in this field. However, local capital flows outside since local resources cannot be
used completely for systems that generate electricity from wind energy. The established
power plants will contribute more to the country economy and technological development
if the studies carried out focus more on manufacturing energy system components in our
country as well. Figure 1 indicates local energy generation according to data from Turkish
Energy Statistics.
GENERATION (07/2016): 154.864.377.570 kWh
CONSUMPTION (07/2016) : 157.662.418.980 kWh
Figure 1: Energy generation in Turkey [6]
Even though the installed power of wind based systems is 6,6% (5,1 MW), the
generated energy can be expressed as 5,4%. This corresponds to 8,3 billion kWh annually.
Wind Energy power plants (WEP) that make the highest contribution to wind energy
generation in Turkey are Geycek/Kırşehir WEP (150 MW), Balıkesir WEP (142,5 MW),
Kangal/Sivas WEP (128 MW) , Karaburun/İzmir WEP (120 MW), Osmaniye WEP (135
MW), Soma/Manisa WEP (140,8 MW), Şamlı/ Balıkesir WEP (114 MW) [7]. Whereas the
installed power of hydraulic sources makes up 125,2% of the total sources, the energy
generated is about 19% of the total energy. This corresponds to 29,5 billion kWh annually.
Installed energy of solar energy systems is 0,7 (562,1 MW) in comparison with the general
value, however they have no contribution to the total energy generated. The installed power
of solar energy systems has increased in recent years and their share in the general installed
power graph has increased. This indicates that renewable energy potential in Turkey has
End of July,2016
Hydraulic Rivers
Hydraulic Dams
Wind
Jeothermal
Fuel Oil
Bituminous Coal
Lignite
Natural Gas
LNG
Biomass
Naphtha
Import Coal

Journal of New Results in Science 12 (2016) 81-87 86
started to be used actively. Table 4 shows the change of installed power in our country
from the energy crisis in 1970 up to 2015.
Table 4: Change of installed power in Turkey [8]
Accordingly, the installed power for hydraulic and renewable energy lags behind
that of natural gas plants. A small change in the installed power of renewable energy
sources has made significant changes in electricity generation. The energy statistics in
Table 5 shows the change in the total energy generated in Turkey between 1970 and 2015.
Table 5: Change of installed power in Turkey [9]

Journal of New Results in Science 12 (2016) 81-87 87
According to Table 5, the existing wind potential in Turkey has started to be used
since 2006; new plants have been established as a result of changing technology and
developments in equipment. Thus, effective results have been obtained in energy
generation thereby contributing to total energy generation. The share of wind energy and
other renewable energy sources has increased in our country over the years and it will
continue to increase with the current R&D studies carried out. Renewable source diversity
and potential of Turkey will be used efficiently as a result of the required energy laws and
the correct energy policies that will be applied.
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