TURKEY LAUNCHED 351 ENERGY PLANTS IN THE LAST FIVE YEARS...

In the last five years, Turkey launched 215 hydropower plants, 90 wind power plants and 46 geothermal power plants, according to Energy and Natural Resources Minister Fatih Dönmez.

These plants, he said on Sunday, meet 30 percent of Turkey's aggregate electricity demand annually.

Dönmez added that the construction of 216 hydropower plants was also planned in the coming period. He further noted that 180 wind power plants and 27 geothermal power plants are scheduled for construction in the coming period.

Adding some 1,085 megawatts (MW) to its energy mix last year, Turkey has maintained its lead in Europe and moved up to fourth place globally in hydroelectric power capacity installation.

The minister pointed out that Turkey's electricity consumption stood at 303.3 billion kilowatt hours (KW) in 2018, while in July 2019, hydropower plants had a production capacity of 28,424 MW, followed by wind power plants with 7,228 MW and geothermal plants with 1,336 MW.

Last year, 19.8 percent of Turkey's electricity generation was provided by hydropower plants, 6.6 percent by wind power and 2.5 percent by geothermal power. "In 2018, the amount and cost of the energy purchased from these generation facilities are determined freely between the buyers and the sellers or the energy generated in these facilities is traded on the market through EPİAŞ, the Energy Stock Exchange Istanbul.

Thanks to public and private efforts, 4.8 billion dollars worthy of investment was made in solar power, 4.3 billion dollars in wind farms, 6 billion dollars in hydroelectric plants, 1 billion dollars in geothermal and 430 million dollars in biomass in the last five years.

The Energy Ministry will announce details within a few weeks on small-scale renewable energy resources zone (YEKA) tenders that will be held in the first quarter of 2020.

Moreover, Turkey's National Energy Efficiency Action Plan, launched by the Energy and Natural Resources Ministry in early 2018, outlines a road map on saving 30.2 billion dollars by 2030 by investing 10.9 billion dollars in several different sectors, especially in the industrial and construction sectors.