Significant Progress of Geothermal MA-Development Activities in Turkey -a Success Story

Abstract

First geothermal district heating system have been started in Ýzmir- Balçova Dokuz Eylül University Campus at 1983 in Turkey, and was followed by Balýkesir-Gönen in 1987 and Kütahya-Simav, Kýrþehir, Afyon, Kýzýlcahamam-Ankara, Salihli, Ýzmir-Balçova, Ýzmir-Narlýdere, Kýrþehir-Kozaklý, Sarikaya-Yozgat, Yerköy-Yozgat, Sorgun-Yozgat, Edremit-Balikesir and now Bursa Heating Project which is under construction. Among the above mentioned geothermal district heating systems, the biggest one is built in Ýzmir- Balçova which has now 35.000 residences equivalence heating capacity. According to the renewable energy law of Turkey, If the local goverrnorships and municipalities own geothermal resources they have to built and operate geothermal district heating systems. According to Turkey’s experience with geothermal district heating more then 20 years the geothermal selling price is 60 % cheaper than the natural gas equivalance. Since 2010, the installed geothermal electricity capacity has reached 162,2 MWe (Aydin-Germencik, Aydin-Salavatli, Denizli-Saraykoy, Aydin-Hidirbeyli, Canakkale-Tuzla, and Aydin Hidirbeyli), which shows that the geothermal power production capacity has doubled in last 4 years.