Turkey breaks all-time daily local renewable power record, hitting 90% mark

Turkey breaks all-time daily local renewable power record, hitting 90% mark

June 1, 2020 0 By John Max

The country managed to break its own electricity production record on May 24, 2020.

On May 24, 90 percent of Turkey’s electricity was produced by local renewable power resources, breaking an all-time daily high record, said its energy and natural resources minister.

The country had imposed a holiday curfew from May 23 to 26 in response to the pandemic.

The Sunday on which the record was broken was the first full day of the three-day Ramadan Bayram holiday, Eid al-Fitr. The curfew was imposed during that time to help slow the coronavirus spread through observances of the holiday. During that time, the country’s local renewable power resources were able to provide a record-breaking 90 percent Turkey’s total electricity demand.

“On May 24, we achieved a new record in daily production by generating 90% of our electricity from domestic and renewable resources,” said the energy and natural resources minister, Fatih Dönmez. “Our National Energy continues to renew, and our investments bear fruit.” He added that 43.7 percent of the electricity was produced by hydro plants, while another 16.5 percent was from local coal. Wind comprised 14.5 percent, solar made up another 7.2 percent, geothermal represented 5.3 percent, and biomass plants made up 2.6 percent.

Sunday’s total electricity production including local renewable power reached 457,921 megawatt hours.

The Turkish Electricity Transmission Corporation (TEIAŞ) released official figures stating that Sunday’s total energy production struck 457,921 megawatt hours. The hydroelectricity plants contributed 119,335 megawatt hours of that total. Run-of-river plants added another 96,201 megawatt hours, while coal put in another 76,170 megawatt hours.

To compare, according to Dönmez, over the last five years, an average of about 70 percent of Turkey’s electricity generation has come from domestic, renewable sources of energy. The country has managed to triple its renewable electricity generation in just over ten years, bringing it to 45,000 megawatts. It has invested almost $40 billion into these projects. The country holds the sixth highest renewable capacity in Europe and the thirteenth highest in the world.

International Energy Agency (IEA) data shows that Turkey’s 42 GW local renewable power Local renewable powercapacity will grow to 63 GW by the close of 2024. That will bring it up to the fifth highest capacity in Europe and the 11th highest in the world.

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