Energy Policy 34 (2006) 3398–3401

Viewpoint

Some aspects on hydraulic energy and environment in Turkey

Huseyin Salvarli�

Dokuz Eylul University, Izmir Vocational School, 35160 Buca-Izmir, Turkey

Available online 28 October 2005

Abstract

Turkey is not rich in petroleum and natural gas resources and is dependent on energy. Electricity generation in Turkey from its own

domestic resources is, at present, about 40% and is expected to be at 20% by the year 2020. It has been planned that the maximum

capacity for hydraulic and other national resources will be reached by the year 2020. This means that the total electricity generated by

domestic resources is to be 245TWh/yr, and the remaining electricity demand of about 302TWh/yr for the year 2020 must be ensured by

imported resources. In Turkey, hydropower projects are part of integrated water resources development. Most new powerplants will be

developed as build, operate and transfer (BOT) or build, own and operate (BOO ) projects with the private sector. It is expected that

many foreign investors and financiers will also be interested in the Turkish hydropower market. For a sustainable development the next

investments should be made for clean technologies such as hydropower. Depending upon the latest technological developments, other

economic and political factors will also affect the quality of the environment.

r 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Sustainable development; Hydropower; Turkey

1. Introduction

The high energy demand in Turkey is closely linked toeconomic growth, industrialization and population in-crease. Turkish general energy policies are designed tosupport economic and social development. Other issues areeliminating cross-subsides, ensuring security of supply andreforming markets and prices. As the energy sector inTurkey is mainly state-owned, the Government is heavilyinvolved in the management of the state economicenterprises. Thus, in order to reduce the negative impacton the economy it has been decided to privatize or, at least,increase corporate autonomy of state energy enterprises.

At present, Turkey imports 80% of its petroleum. Itsown domestic resources contribute about 40% of electricitysupply and are expected to be at 20% by 2020. Domesticresources of Turkey are coal, hydraulic, geothermal, windand solar.

As the use of hydraulic and other national will reach fullcapacity by 2020, imported natural gas, coal and otherresources will be used to meet the energy demand. By 2020,

approximately 75% of final energy demand and 68% ofelectricity supply will be met by coal, oil and natural gas. Inconnection with Turkey’s economic growth, industrializa-tion and population increase there has been substantialproblems in meeting air quality requirements and addingflue gas desulfurization systems to existing major plantsand plants under development. In order to improve theeconomy, support ecology and save energy, the planningand construction of all industrial plants must considerenvironment.The aim of the Turkish Government is to ensure

continuous, high quality, reliable and economic electricitysupply, and also to encourage sufficient investments tomeet the growing energy demand in Turkey. Energydemand is also increasing in the world and is expected totriple by 2050 even if the developed countries adopt moreeffective energy conservation policies so that their energyconsumption do not increase at all over that period.The Turkish Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources

(MENR) prepares energy generation and demand projec-tions in accordance with the growth targets given by theState Planning Organization (MENR, 2005). Projectionsare closely related to factors such as development,industrialization, urbanization, technology and conserva-

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E-mail address: huseyin.salvarli@deu.edu.tr.

tion. To meet only such an energy demand for new energyprojects, Turkey needs to spend approximately $4 billionUS each year.

Turkey will be forced to import energy in increasingproportions. To reduce the share of state finance, privateenterprises have been given the right to invest, operate andtrade in the electricity sector. The government has alreadydeveloped an energy policy designed to supply high quality,reliable and inexpensive forms of energy to the consumersin a timely manner. Since 1980s, the state monopoly ingeneration, transmission, distribution and trading ofelectricity has been abolished, and within this framework,necessary legal models have been implemented in Turkey.

In relation to the new hydroelectric powerplants also, themodels such as build, operate and transfer (BOT), buildand operate (BO), build, own and operate (BOO) andtransfer of operating rights (TOOR) have been developedto facilitate local and foreign private investments in theenergy sector. Besides these models, the turnkey imple-mentation of hydroelectric projects on a full-financing basisthrough joint protocols is now the most efficient andsuccessful way of awarding and implementing large-scalehydroelectric projects in Turkey. At present, there arealready 29 projects which are being undertaken by theconsortiums of Turkish and foreign, such as Austrian,American, French, Russian, Swiss or Canadian companies.The total capacity (installed, under construction andplanned) corresponds to almost 52% of the total hydropotential in the country.

2. Energy supply and demand in Turkey

General data related to the energy supply and demand inTurkey is shown in Table 1. The current per capita energyconsumption is far below the world average and thepredictions indicate that, in 2020, per capita consumptionin Turkey (6 092 kWh) will just reach the level of thepresent consumption of today’s developed countries(TEAS, 2000). As shown in Tables 2 and 3 Turkey hasno big oil and gas reserves and is dependent on importedenergy. The main domestic energy sources are hydraulic,coal, geothermal, wind and solar.

Electricity generation in Turkey is based on variousenergy resources (see Table 4). It is highly dependent onimported fossil fuels. The predictions indicate that the fullcapacity for the domestic fossil and hydraulic resources willbe obtained by 2020 (TEAS, 2000). This means that, by2020, the total energy generated by the domestic resourcesis to be 245TWh/yr (in which about 125TWh/yr will comefrom hydraulic energy) and the remaining energy demandof about 302TWh/yr will have to be provided by importedresources. The balance of production and consumption isas shown in Table 5.

3. Hydraulic energy and the environment

Turkey has aimed at increasing domestic production bypublic, private and foreign utilities, at increasing efficiencyby rehabilitation of existing plants and acceleration ofexisting contruction programs.At present, the average hydroelectric capacity in Turkey

is 45TWh/yr which corresponds to only 36% of the totaleconomically feasible potential of the country. Up to 2020,it is expected that about 502 new hydroplants will beconstructed to make use of the full available potential(DSI, 2005; Ozturk and Kincay, 2004). The distribution ofhydroelectric power potential in Turkey is as shown inTable 6. By 2020, it is expected that the total hydroinstalled capacity will be almost 36,000MW. Thus, withinthis framework, it is also expected that the GAP (South-eastern Anatolian Project) will comprise 22 dams and 19

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Table 1

Energy supply and demand in Turkey

Data Year

1980 1990 1995 2000 2010 2020

Population (106) 44.4 56.1 62.2 67.3 78.1 89.8

Primary energy supply (PJ) 1342 2211 2665 3824 7353 13203

(Mtoe) 32 53 64 91 176 315

Per capita (GJ) 30 39 43 57 94 147

Final energy demand (PJ) 1151 1732 2080 2955 5227 9398

(Mtoe) 27 41 50 71 125 224

Per capita (GJ) 26 31 33 44 67 105

Electricity supply (TWh) 25 57 86 134 290 547

Per capita (kWh) 554 1013 1376 1995 3709 6092

Table 2

Primary energy supply by source (%)

Energy resources Year

1980 1990 1995 2000 2010 2020

Coal 21.0 31.1 27.2 26.6 30.6 39.5

Oil 51.5 45.6 46.5 42.0 28.9 24.3

Natural gas 0.1 5.9 10.1 18.8 27.2 22.8

Nuclear — — — — 2.9 5.8

Hydro 3.0 3.7 4.8 4.1 4.2 2.8

Other 24.4 13.7 11.4 8.5 6.2 4.8

H. Salvarli / Energy Policy 34 (2006) 3398–3401 3399

hydroelectric plants and a total generation of about27TWh/yr, and the irrigation of an area of 1,785,050 hawill be realized. The GAP is an integrated, multi-sectorialdevelopment project, and covers many sectors such asagriculture, industry, transportation, water sports, etc.Dams are necessary not only for irrigation and hydro-power, but also for the domestic water supply in largecities. However, dams also result in flooding which can begood or bad, depending on local conditions. It is expectedthat emissions are considerably lower than those of gas andcoal stations. The amount of methane and carbon dioxideproduced depends on the vegetation that decomposes afterimpoundment. The hydraulic projects often improveenvironmental conditions, providing wetlands and variousnew developments in the vicinity of the reservoir.

At the present rate of coal, oil and gas consumption,global temperature will increase by 2 1C in the nextdecades. Besides the emissions of carbon dioxide fromburning fossil fuels, the combustion of coal may also

release toxic metals and radioactive substances. Thesewastes can cause environmental and health damage,whereas hydraulic energy is both environmentaly safeand economically sustainable when compared to othersources of energy. It is, however, a known fact that thecontribution of hydraulic resources to the world elecricitydistribution is only 6%. This amount for Turkey was about31% in 2004.

4. Conclusions

There is an increasing trend in the consumption ofnonrenewable energy resources supporting the economic,social and population growth in the world. At present, theimportance of fossil fuels is still very high and they play amajor role in air pollution. The contribution of fossil fuelsto the world electricity is about 71%. This percentage forTurkey is approximately 70%.Turkey currently has the lowest energy related carbon

dioxide emissions per capita among the IEA contries (IEA,2005), but its emissions are increasing at a fast rate (seeTable 7). The contribution of hydropower to the electricitydistribution is, at present, about 31% and is expected to beat 19% in 2020.To meet the high growth in demand of Turkey in a

reliable way all the projects (including the remaininghydropower projects of the GAP) should be completedwithin anticipated time. This is expected for most power-plants as BOO or BOT projects within the private sector. Itis now clear that an expenditure of about $4 billion US peryear should be required for the energy systems. Turkey hasdeveloped and implemented several energy efficiency

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Table 3

Final energy demand by source (%)

Energy resources Year

1980 1990 1995 2000 2010 2020

Coal 18.4 22.7 17.6 19.0 20.5 36.0

Oil 47.1 48.3 50.4 46.5 35.7 27.6

Natural gas 0.1 1.9 6.1 9.7 16.4 10.9

Electricity 6.3 9.5 11.4 13.9 17.7 18.9

Other 28.1 17.6 14.5 10.9 9.7 6.6

Table 4

Electricity supply by source (%)

Energy resource Year

1980 1990 1995 2000 2010 2020

Coal 25.5 35.1 32.6 28.6 27.6 24.9

Oil 27.7 6.8 6.9 3.6 1.6 6.8

Natural gas — 17.7 19.2 35.0 36.4 36.4

Nuclear — — — — 4.8 12.8

Hydro 48.8 40.2 41.1 32.6 29.5 19.0

Other — 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.1 0.1

Table 5

Balance of production and consumption

Year Efective capacity

(MW)

Installed capacity

(MW)

Total primary supply

(TWh)

Final energy demand

(TWh)

Consumption (kWh

per capita)

1980 3686 5119 29 25 554

1990 11736 16300 73 57 1013

2000 21588 30156 159 134 1995

2010 46219 64655 341 290 3709

2020 88100 108770 620 547 6092

Table 6

Distribution of hydraulic power potential in Turkey

Present

status

Number of

projects

Installed

capacity

(MW)

Mean

capacity

(TWh/yr)

Mean (%)

In operation 135 12631 45.325 36

Under

construction

41 3187 10.645 8

Planned 502 20442 71.411 56

Total

potential

678 36260 127.381 100

H. Salvarli / Energy Policy 34 (2006) 3398–34013400

projects, aimed at industry, transport and residentialsectors. It is also expected that the market reform,including price reform, will lead to a more efficientconsumption. As a result, to ensure steady developmentin an environmentally friendly way, additional efforts arerequired and policy makers will need to be selective about

development targets, considering the recent economicalcrisis in Turkey. In the longer term, new technologies willalso find cleverer ways of reducing environmental costs andintegrated power plants, and renewable energy systems willbe the examples to operate both reliably and economicallywithout waste disposal problems.

References

DSI, 2005. State Hydraulic Works. Ankara, Turkey www.dsi.gov.tr.

IEA, 2005. International Energy Agency www.iea.org.

MENR, 2005. Ministry of Energy and Natural Sources. Ankara, Turkey

www.enerji.gov.tr.

Ozturk, R., Kincay, O., 2004. Potential of hydraulic energy. Energy

Sources 26, 1141–1156.

TEAS, 2000. Turkish Electricity Generation and Transmission Company.

Ankara, Turkey.

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Table 7

Total emissions in Turkey

Year CO2 (Mt/yr) NOx (kt/yr) SO2 (kt/yr) CH4 (kt/yr)

1980 73.33 371.53 17.54 128.13

1990 133.23 656.46 31.01 149.66

1995 161.57 784.97 33.02 135.68

2000 254.38 1166.01 45.67 189.43

2010 458.15 2038.60 78.60 211.63

H. Salvarli / Energy Policy 34 (2006) 3398–3401 3401