Istanbul, Turkey's most crowded city, is utilizing the city's waste by turning it into electricity with funding on the way.
With 6.5 million Turkish liras ($2.44 million), the city is getting ready to expand the capacity of its largest waste to energy biomass plant to 45.3 megawatts, from the previous 35.4 megawatts.
The plant had first started with a capacity of 14.5 megawatts.
Electricity generation from the plant is expected to be 364,051 megawatt-hours, up from the previous 271,808 megawatt-hours. The plant is active 335 days a year with 30 days set aside for maintenance.
As part of the country's renewable energy target, the biomass plant will provide electricity to the grid and partially replace fossil fuels.
Designed with environmental concerns, the plant is in accordance with the Kyoto Protocol, agreement with an internationally binding emission reduction target.
Germany, the U.K., France, Italy and the Netherlands lead in waste to energy technology.
-126,000 families powered by biomass
The biomass plants in Istanbul provide power for 126,000 families annually.
Between 2001 and 2013, four biomass plants were activated in Istanbul with over 50 megawatts of total capacity. Last year, 348,232 megawatt-hours of electricity was generated form the plants, enough to meet 126,000 families' energy needs, based on the estimate of a four member family consuming 230 kilowatt-hours of electricity a month.
By 2023, the country targets 34 gigawatts of hydropower, 20 gigawatts of wind capacity, a minimum of 5,000 megawatts of solar capacity and a minimum of 1,000 megawatts of electricity from biomass and geothermal sources.
Writing by Zeynep Beyza Karabay
Reporting by Goksel Yıldırım
Anadolu Agency
zeynep.karabay@aa.com.tr