ZEMCH 2015 - International Conference Proceedings | Page 132

destroying them.
• Renewable energy sources have abundant amount of energy unlike the fossil fuels have limited amount. For example, Turkey can use intensive amount of sun energy without intermittence.
• It increases the political relationship in term of exchanging the knowledge. Thus, large renewable projects could be shared with other countries.
Ocak et al. (2004) stated that Turkey have large amount of renewable energy sources. In 2001,
the energy that produced from the renewables reaches 8.95 Mtoe. In the near future, the major
sources of energy in Turkey are the fossil fuels, nuclear energy and renewables (biomass, direct
solar energy, hydropower and wind).
In other words, Turkey has already implemented some strategies to emphasize on renewable as a
source of energy. But, still it has a high amount of coal consumption which has an environmental
risk mainly air pollution. Renewables have some of disadvantages but comparing with the fossil
fuels, they are not harmful. Biomass, geothermal and hydropower energy are exploited well in
Turkey. Solar and wind energy are used in limited area while they have the proper conditions to
utilize from them.
Solar Energy
Solar energy is inexhaustible and unlimited source of energy. Turkey is located in sunny belt between 36°N and 42°N latitudes. Figure 4 below shows the annual average solar radiation and sunshine duration in different areas in Turkey. It seems that there is a high potential for solar energy
application to be installed in different locations in Turkey. This is due to the availability of the land
and high amount of solar radiation. The amounts of solar energy that can be exploited reach 36.2
Mtoe per year. The percentages of the land area that can be utilized for solar energy in 10 month
reach 63% while, in the whole year, 17% of the land area can be utilized (Ocak et al. 2004; Sagbas
and Karamanlıoglu 2011).

Figure 4: Solar and wind energy potential in Turkey (Ocak et al., 2004).
Turkey considered a third largest producer of solar thermal energy in the world. On the other
hand, it doesn’t have a significant installed capacity of PV cells. Whereas, PV applications can be
exploited in different areas in Turkey, where there is direct solar radiation and land availability.
So, getting the benefit from all solar energy application will reduce the reliance on fossil fuels as
s source for energy.

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ZEMCH 2015 | International Conference | Bari - Lecce, Italy