In recent years, Turkey’s renewable energy investment has increased, and its installed solar power has increased from 40 megawatts to 7,816 megawatts in 8 years.
The energy needs of the world are mostly met from sources such as coal, oil and natural gas. These resources are decreasing every year. Consumption of fossil fuels causes environmental pollution and the greenhouse effect they create causes global warming and climate change.
In recent years, Turkey has increased its efforts to meet its energy needs from renewable energy sources called “clean energy” and to reduce foreign dependency in energy.
According to the information compiled by the AA correspondent from the data of the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, Turkey’s solar energy production adventure started in 2014 with an installed power of 40 megawatts.
The installed power, which grows every year with the effect of the supports, increased to 249 megawatts in 2015 and 833 megawatts in 2016. In 2017, when the highest increase was observed, it increased to 3 thousand 421 megawatts with an increase of approximately 311% compared to the previous year.
Last year, a new 1149 megawatt solar power plant was included in the grid. Thus, the country’s installed solar power has reached 7,816 megawatts.
“THERE IS NO PLACE IN TURKEY WE CANNOT BENEFIT FROM SOLAR ENERGY”
Tolga Salli, Chairman of the Board of the Environmental Energy Association, stated to the AA correspondent that the increase in the installed capacity of solar energy is “enormous” and noted that the support provided in this increase is of great importance.
Emphasizing the importance of renewable energy sources in both the climate crisis and the country’s struggle for energy independence, Salli said, “Sunny days, cloudlessness and humidity are important criteria for benefiting from solar energy. There is no place within the borders of Turkey where we cannot benefit from solar energy. You can benefit from everywhere from Antalya in the south to the Black Sea in the north. The fact that it is more cloudy, windy or rainy does not prevent us from taking advantage of it. For example, Germany is located to our north. However, its installed capacity is quite high.”
Stating that solar power plants are concentrated in the Aegean Region and around Karaman, Antalya and Isparta, Salli continued as follows:
“There are much more important situations in 2022 and the next period. In the fight against the climate crisis, our Parliament signed the Paris Climate Agreement. Renewable energy investments have to be made within the scope of action plans to be created in this direction and sustainable climate action plans of municipalities. Considering that the legislation changes and the biggest input of the investor is the electricity cost, we think that solar energy investments will increase.”
Stating that renewable energy sources are of great importance for exporting companies to be competitive in the European market in the future, Tolga Salli said, “Our beautiful homeland is a whole with not only wind and sun, but also biomass, geothermal and other resources. While some countries have only very high geothermal resources, some countries have a lot of power to produce electricity from hydroelectric only, we have all of them. If we provide energy from all of these, we will be able to take the path of the Republic of Turkey in energy independence faster and we will have taken important steps in the fight against the climate crisis.”
Source: Sabah / Translated by Irem Yildiz