Tag: wind energy

  • Turkey Looks to Increase R&D into Renewable Energy

    Turkey Looks to Increase R&D into Renewable Energy

    Turkey’s dependency on fossil fuel imports is no secret but a big problem, one which the government is keen on helping to solve. In recent years Turkey has become known as one of the fore thinkers in the creation of renewable energy, and investment in the sector is growing massively as it becomes recognized as a sector with massive growth potential — the government’s support adds a layer of safety to investments.

    The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) feels that interdisciplinary R&D and innovation studies will help Turkey to realise its renewable energy potential, and will also help with Turkey’s vision of becoming an energy corridor.

    At the moment Turkey imports 75% of its energy which is equivalent to 99,000,000 tonnes of oil. It is expected to need 218,000,000 tonnes of oil by 2020.

    Data released by the Organisation for Economic Corporation and Development (OECD) found that, while the Turkish population makes up 6% of the OECD total, the country contributes just 2% of its energy. The average OECD energy used per capita is equivalent to 0.18 tonnes of oil whereas in Turkey it is equivalent to 0.28 tonnes of oil. The average energy self-sufficiency rate is only 27.5% in Turkey compared to an average of 70% in OECD countries.

    All the above data points towards the urgent need for speeding up research and development into energy in Turkey, which has a lot of catching up to do with more developed countries. To do so Turkey must focus on developing the necessary sources to create technological advancements, skills and support institutions.

    Turkey has to lower its levels of greenhouse gas emissions by next year in order to meet conditions set by the Kyoto protocol. TUBITAK is hoping to encourage the private sector in Turkey to develop green technologies and still aims to keep its 2023 goal of having Turkey produce 30% of its energy through renewable sources.

    It’s likely that this will involve a variety of energy types in order to produce power from solar, wind and hydroelectric sources. Another important energy source is likely to come from hydrogen burning technologies while energy storage and power system capacities are also likely to benefit from R & D. TUBITAK still sees nuclear energy as being important in reducing greenhouse emissions.

    The need for renewable energy will only become more important when Turkey enters the EU as it is currently considering an energy tax based on carbon emissions. The new tax is aiming to reduce consumption of fossil fuels and promote renewable energy sources that emit less CO2. However, it is only a proposal at this stage, and Germany has already voiced its opposition to the new rules, because it fears it would affects its automobile industry.

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  • Turkey has given the first production license for wind energy applications

    Turkey has given the first production license for wind energy applications

    turbineBlueSkyTurkey has given the first production license for wind power applications by companies, taking a crucial step in renewable energy.

    The applications, dated Nov. 1, 2007, had been mired in red tape and debates on wind energy since then. The Energy Market Regulatory Agency, or EMRA, convened on Thursday at last to evaluate the applications, according to an Anatolia news agency story filed Sunday.

    The EMRA decided to give a license to Tektuð, a Turkish electricity company, for a 25-megawatt wind farm in Adýyaman, in Southeast Turkey. On average, 1 MW of power can supply electricity to as many as 300 households per year.

    On Nov. 1 three years ago, 751 applications flooded regulators’ desks. But since then, none of the wind turbines projects received a license as the authorities wrestled with various regulatory changes.

    “The EMRA will continue to distribute licenses to wind farm projects whose technical assessment is positive and which do not involve more than one application for the same region,” Anatolia news agency reported.

    Over the next term, the regulator is expected to give the go-ahead to 27 wind power projects with a total capacity of 1,343 MW. These investments may total between 2.7 billion Turkish Liras and 3.2 billion liras.

    In a previous statement, EMRA chief Hasan Köktaþ said Turkey’s current wind energy capacity is at 1,200 MW and that 2011 will be a year of “mobilization” in the private sector’s wind energy investments.

    Tolga Bilgin, chairman of the Wind Power and Hydropower Plants Businessmen’s Association, or RESSÝAD, said he expects other projects to be approved soon.

    GE’s Turkish unit eyes producing wind turbines

    General Electric’s Turkish unit revisits a plan to manufacture wind turbines in the country. ‘If the number of companies that need financing through export insurers falls, then we may dust off plans to make the equipment in Turkey,’ says Mete Maltepe, the chief of GE’s local energy unit.

    Turkish companies have been going overseas to buy wind turbines because they relied on export insurers such as Euler Hermes, the world’s largest insurer of trade credit, when financing was scarce. Wind turbines will be more likely to be bought domestically as the global recovery takes hold and more loan facilities become available, Maltepe said.

    GE wants to generate “significant” business as Turkey increases wind power capacity to 20,000 megawatts by 2020 from less than 1,000 megawatts now, Maltepe said. A planned government incentive of 5.5 euro cents per kilowatt-hour to wind power producers needs to be increased to at least 7.5 cents to justify investments, he said. The subsidy is awaiting parliamentary approval.

    Wind turbine prices, which fell during the global economic crisis, have steadied and will start rising unless other, less-costly sources of renewable energy are developed, Maltepe said.

    via REVE – Regulación Eólica con Vehículos Eléctricos -.

  • Russia plans to build wind farms in Europe, Turkey

    Russia plans to build wind farms in Europe, Turkey

    By Anastasia Lyrchikova

    MOSCOW | Fri Nov 12, 2010 1:44pm EST

    (Reuters) – Russia’s state nuclear unit Rosatom is planning to expand into wind power and will look for foreign partners to help build farms in the Balkans, Eastern Europe and Ukraine, its equipment head said on Friday.

    “We are looking for a technology partner. The desire of all world leaders (in wind technology) to take part in the Russian wind power market is there,” Vladimir Kashenko, Chief Executive of Rosatom’s equipment unit Atomenergomash, told Reuters.

    Resources-rich Russia currently has almost no wind energy turbines due to its vast reserves of oil and gas, but the government has said it now wants 4.5 percent of power to come from renewable resources by 2020.

    That compares with just 1 percent of total electricity being generated from renewable resources in Russia today, and a European Union 2020 target of 20 percent.

    Kashenko declined to name potential partners for the project, saying Indian, Chinese or European companies could enter the Russian market.

    “I am far from having illusions that we will produce all 100 percent of wind power generators at our enterprises. The market is capacious and other players, of course, will be here,” said Kashenko.

    One of the world’s biggest manufacturers of wind turbines is Germany’s Siemens — which signed a 1 billion euro ($1.36 billion) co-operation agreement with Russian wind power companies earlier this year.

    Kashenko said early wind power projects may include the construction of wind farms around seven Russian nuclear power stations from 2012, but the group would then target overseas markets.

    “Ukraine is very interesting in terms of alternative energy. In addition we plan to engage with Eastern European countries such as Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Turkey and with other countries traditionally friendly to Russia,” he said.

    He said he hoped ‘green tariffs’ would be introduced in Russia next year to ease financial concerns around the project.

    Russia President Dmitry Medvedev asked Energy Minister Igor Sechin to look into the issues of alternative energy and tariffs earlier this year.

    (Writing by John Bowker; Editing by Andrey Ostroukh)

    via Russia plans to build wind farms in Europe, Turkey | Reuters.