Geothermal Country Update Report of Turkey (2010-2013)

Abstract

Laws and regulations released by the Grand National Assembly of Turkey regarding the use of Renewable Energy sources and Geothermal Energy boosted the activities on the utilization of geothermal energy in Turkey in the last five years. More than 250 geothermal fields were discovered in Turkey and about 95% of them are low to medium enthalpy fields mainly suitable for direct use applications. Although the geothermal energy potential of Turkey was historically estimated as 31,500 MWt and recently increased to 60,000 MWt, the proven potential by drilling activities (4209 MWt) and natural discharges (600 MWt) is only 4809 MWt. As of today, 58 % of the proven capacity (2705 MWt) is utilized for geothermal heating, including residence heating (805 MWt), greenhouse heating (612 MWt), thermal facilities heating (380 MWt), balneological use (870 MWt) and heat pump application (38 MWt). The most remarkable change in the activities took place in the exploration of geothermal resources for electricity production. Current installed capacity is 162.2 MWe and it is expected to become above 300 MWe by the end of 2013.