Turcas Petrol AS plans to double its geothermal installed capacity in the mid term, Turcas Petrol CEO said on Wednesday.
During Anadolu Agency energy desk's hosting of Batu Aksoy, the CEO of Turcas Petrol, he said that geothermal investors are awaiting details of a replacement of the current Turkish Renewable Energy Resources Support Mechanism (YEKDEM).
He underlined the importance of seeing an innovative mechanism in order that investors can take a serious and strong position for future undertakings.
Aksoy said that a vital request from lawmakers on the YEKDEM mechanism is to see sustainable support from Turkey's Energy and Natural Resources Ministry.
Currently, YEKDEM offers a feed-in tariff of $0.073 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) for wind and hydropower projects, $0.105 for geothermal facilities and $0.133 for solar energy and biomass geothermal plants.
However, Turkey’s Energy and Natural Sources Minister Berat Albayrak announced on Nov. 1, 2017 that the YEKDEM mechanism would not meet the demand from the clean energy sector, and would not continue after 2020.
- Turkey in 1000 MW geothermal league
Aksoy hailed Turkey's position in geothermal developments in recent years and said that Turkey achieved fourth place globally in installed geothermal energy capacity.
Turkey is geographically located in an active tectonic zone, and is therefore rich in terms of geothermal energy resources, he explained.
According to Turkey’s Energy and Natural Resources Ministry's official web page, the country has approximately 1,000 geothermal springs of various temperatures located across the country. In theory, Turkey's geothermal capacity is predicted as 31,500 thermal megawatts.
Furthermore, 90 percent of the country's geothermal resources are in low and medium enthalphied geothermal areas, which are suitable for direct applications of heating, thermal tourism, and the output of minerals, etc. while the remaining 10 percent is suitable for indirect applications -- the generation of electricity.
Currently, geothermal energy is used for electricity production, both greenhouse and residential heating, thermal and health tourism, industrial mineral mining and for drying purposes.
According to Turcas Petrol's web page, the oil and energy-focused investment company has a history stretching back 87 years, whose subsidiaries have partnerships with leading companies in their sectors.
Turcas' subsidiary in fuel distribution and the lubricants market, Shell & Turcas Petroleum, has a network of 1,011 Shell-branded gas stations nationwide, oil storage terminals, lubricants production and marketing activities. The company achieved a turnover of 22.2 billion Turkish liras in 2017.
By Gulsen Cagatay
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr