Experts call for greater share of renewables

National energy policy should be revised to reflect the fact that the world’s major countries are turning to renewable sources of energy instead of fossil fuels, experts say. Last year, energy minister Taner Yıldız said Turkey wanted 30 percent of its targeted energy production of 100 billion MWh per year in 2023 to come from domestic coal, thereby doubling the fuel’s share from 13%, Today’s Zaman reported.

Locals in the Yırca district of Manisa province, where there are 150 million tons of coal reserves, resisted the pro-government Kolin Holding’s plan to construct a thermal power plant in the district last year, the article adds. The 6th Chamber of the Council of State finally annulled the expropriation of the 388,000 square meters of olive groves by the company in April after protests by the villagers. However, the decision of the court only came after the company had already felled 6,000 olive trees.

Tanay Sıtkı Uyar, president of Eurosolar Turkey, told Sunday’s Zaman newspaper other countries are abandoning the production of fossil fuels, and urged Turkey to revise its energy policy. Noting that major international financial institutions such as the World Bank and the United States Exim Bank have ceased to provide loans for coal production, Uyar urged Turkey to focus on producing energy from wind and solar power as the country’s topography and climate is highly favourable. He also pointed out the importance of the introduction of measures to use energy efficiently and avoid waste as part of Turkey’s energy policy, stressing benefits from LED lighting and other innovative methods in transportation, factories and households.

In an interview with Sunday’s Zaman, Necdet Pamir, an academic at Bilkent University and head of the energy committee of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), noted that 73.5% of Turkey’s energy consumption is supplied by imports and said that energy production from coal would be a viable option only if modern and environment-friendly techniques are used. He claims that Turkey has the potential to create almost 750 TWh of energy, three times the electricity consumed last year, if it taps into unused indigenous energy sources.