Unlike many European countries, Turkey’s coal power generation dropped again in 2021, for the third year in a row. On the other hand, gas generation increased to compensate for the drought-induced decline in hydropower generation. Hence Turkey’s emissions per kWh power generation remain unchanged. In fact there has been no significant improvement in Turkey’s carbon intensity of power in at least 30 years.
Hydropower has a very long history in Turkey, the first power plant in its history was a hydropower plant constructed in Southern Turkey in the early 1900s during the Ottoman Empire era. Especially after 1958, hydropower share in power generation exceeded 20% and reached as much as 60% in 1988. Until then hydropower was one of the two leading sources of power generation together with coal. After 1988, gas entered into the picture; and since then coal, hydro and gas shared the top three positions in power generation without any exception until 2021.
Non-hydro renewables doubled their power generation since 2017 and overtook drought-induced hydropower. Wind & solar owned the lion’s share in this result by reaching 13.6% share in total power generation in 2021, up from 11.7% in 2020; while biomass & geothermal reached 4.9% share. Wind and solar generation set a new record by reaching 44.6 TWh, a 25% rise in a year.
Drought also played a role in the shift between hydro and non-hydro renewables. In 2021 hydropower production and its share in total generation were the lowest since 2014. Gas replaced the reduction in hydropower, increasing the fossil share in generation to almost 65% from 56-58% levels in 2019-2020. Lack of hydropower pushed gas consumption into as much as 61.6 bcm, another annual record of all time.
Turkey is highly dependent on hydropower but hydropower production in Turkey exhibits great volatility, such that year-over-year hydro generation may differ as much as 30 TWh which equals around 10% of countrywide power demand. The share of hydro in total power generation likewise varies between 20-30% every year. Lack of hydropower is currently met with imported fossil fuel sources. Hence the country is exposed to very high risks in a year with drought and skyrocketing fossil fuel prices. However, Turkey can hedge itself against drought by covering its huge hydro reservoirs with floating solar which would complement the lack of hydro in the summertimes.
More Details Click: https://ember-climate.org/project/turkey-electricity-review-2022/