Despite its vast reserves, Turkey is a latecomer to geothermal energy, the head of Turkey's Geothermal Energy Association said last Thursday.
In an interview with the Anatolian news agency, the association's manager, Orhan Mertoglu, said Turkey's geothermal energy resources were the seventh largest in the world.
"The Aegean region holds 65 percent of Turkey's geothermal sources, the rest being in Central Anatolia and the Marmara region. However, only 50,000 houses are heated by geothermal energy, 15,000 of which are in the Balcova and Narlidere districts of Izmir,"he said "We aspire to supplying 5 percent of Turkey's electricity needs and 30 percent of its heating needs using geothermal resources" .
Mertoglu said geothermal energy was recognized as an environmentally friendly and reliable power source all over the world and was most profitably used by the United States, China and Japan. Philippines meet 26 percent of its electricity needs and Iceland supplied 90 percent of its domestic heating with geothermal energy.
He said "hot water is a potential danger, but businesses may apply to Mining Technical Research Institute (MTA) for the techniques they have developed." Mertoglu said "companies who want to go geothermal should apply for permission to the city authorities.
It's a great loss to Turkey that there is no geothermal law, but this deficiency can be compensated for by some small adjustments to the present laws," Dokuz Eylul University Geothermal Energy Research and Application Center head Professor Yilmaz Savascin had said in a recent speech.
New projects are being prepared for the more profitable use of the Turkey's rich geothermal energy sources. While the project to heat 20,000 homes in the Narlidere and Balcova districts continues, a project to dry fresh fruit and vegetables using geothermal energy in the Salihli district of Manisa will be launched by the Salihli Municipality and the OR-ME geothermal co. Financial support will be sought from the European Union for the project.
Another project will be launched to restore 900 historical buildings between 150 and 200 years old and encourage health tourism in the city of Manisa. The project will be run in collaboration with Kula Municipality and Dokuz Eylul University. In this case financial backing will be provided by the United Nations. – (Albawaba-MEBG)
© 2000 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
