Turkey In Need of Diversified Energy Sources
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s government has been subsidizing renewable energy production in Turkey but only less than 4 percent of the electricity produced in the country last year was from renewable energy sources. With its rapid economic growth Turkey has to immediately address its energy demand through an efficient energy policy by diversifying its energy sources portfolio as well as fully realizing existing renewable energy sources, experts warn.
According to a study by the Hydroelectric Plants Industry Businessmen’s Association (HESİAD), the global demand for energy goes up by 2.4 percent a year. While such an increase is around 4.1 percent for developing countries, for Turkey it is around 6 to 8 percent annually, giving Turkey one of the highest yearly increases in energy demand in the world.
Recent remarks made by Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek about Turkey’s energy bill should serve as a wake-up call. According to Şimşek, if the price of oil persists at current levels, that is, above $100 per barrel, Turkey’s energy bill could get as high as $50 billion by the end of the year. Turkey has been trying to resolve its dependency on foreign oil, which accounts for a big portion of its imports, through an increased search for fossil oil reserves within its borders. Nuclear energy is another alternative that Turkey has been trying to implement for almost five decades without much success until recently.
The HESİAD report notes that the consumption of electricity is an indicator of the growth level of a country. According to the CIA 2010 World Factbook, the electricity consumption per person in developed countries is around 8.900 kilowatt hours (kWh) per year. Trailing developed countries by a large margin, the same number in Turkey is around 2.685 kWh per year. It is obvious that Turkey has to shore up its growth in order for it to be sustainable by addressing the issue without further delay.
Of the electricity produced in Turkey in 2010, 46 percent was through natural gas, 25 percent through coal, 25 percent from hydroelectric plants and the rest through other liquid fuels and renewable energy sources, according to the system operation activities 2010 report published by the Turkish Electricity Production Company (TEİAŞ). Turkey’s demand for natural gas is mainly met through imports, and such a fact makes it highly dependant on other countries. Taking into consideration that the price of natural gas is determined by world oil prices, the need for alternative and reliable sources of energy for Turkey is obvious.
One of the alternative energy sources that has been vehemently debated in Turkey is nuclear energy. According to Serdar İskender, a senior mechanical engineer and an energy consultant for Turkish Technical Staff Foundation (TÜTEV), nuclear energy is one efficient alternative for electricity in Turkey given the price volatility of natural gas in world markets. When the price of natural gas doubles, the cost per unit of electricity production from natural gas increases by 60 percent, while under the same conditions the cost per unit increase for nuclear energy production is recorded at around 10 percent, he notes.
İskender also emphasizes the fact that in order to assure sustainable growth Turkey has to diversify its energy sources and nuclear energy is a prime candidate, given its low cost per unit electricity production. According to İskender, the cost of capital for fossil fuel-based plants is low, whereas the fuel costs are high. For nuclear and hydroelectric plants, on the other hand, the fuel costs are low whereas the capital costs are high. Taking into consideration the high dependency of natural gas and lignite-based plants on natural gas and coal, respectively, and the fact that coal-based plants are harmful for the environment, hydroelectric and nuclear plants should be given more importance when it comes to diversifying the energy portfolio, İskender adds.
Turkey’s electricity consumption in 2010 was around 209 billion kWh. The HESİAD Factbook states that Turkey’s annual total energy demand by 2020 will be around 450 billion kWh. Necdet Pamir, an energy expert and instructor at Bilkent and İstanbul Culture universities, told Today’s Zaman that such a need could be easily met through alternative and renewable energy sources that Turkey has yet to fully realize. However, Pamir notes that the current government lacks a coherent strategy when it comes to energy policy. The deal that has been reached with Russia for the nuclear plant that is going to be built in Akkuyu will make Turkey further dependant on a single country, he says.
According to Pamir, the established potential of hydroelectric energy is around 140 billion kWh. Of such potential, only 35 percent of hydroelectric energy is being realized and around 65 percent is waiting to be used for Turkey’s energy needs, Pamir says. Therefore, if managed properly, solely with hydroelectric energy Turkey could add another 90 billion kWh, and another 50 billion kWh could be saved by implementing efficient energy methods in industrial and residential areas. With another 19 billion kWh from the modernization of current power plants and with energy produced through wind power and solar energy, Turkey’s current and future energy demands could easily be met, Pamir concludes.
10 April 2011
SOURCE: TODAYS ZAMAN
