Geothermal energy is clean, cheap and environmentally friendly, which is our domestic energy source. Turkey is located on an active tectonic zone as geological and geographical location and for this reason, our country is rich in terms of geothermal energy resources. Our country has approximately 1.000 geothermal springs located all over the country that have various temperatures.
The geothermal capacity of our country is very high. 78% of these geothermal fields are situated in Western Anatolia, 9% in Central Anatolia, 7% in the Marmara Region, 5% in Eastern Anatolia and 1% in the other regions. 90% of our geothermal resources are low and medium enthalpy geothermal areas which are suitable for direct applications (heating, thermal tourism, industrial usage, etc.), while 10% are suitable for indirect applications (generation of electricity).
Geothermal sources have widespread uses in Turkey. Today geothermal energy is used for electricity production, heating (greenhouse and residences), thermal and health tourism, industrial usages, fish farming, for drying purposes and etc.. First geothermal electricity generation held in Kızıldere geothermal field by MTA in 1975 and was initiated by Kızıldere power plant with 0.5 MWe power.
The installed capacity of geothermal energy as of year 2018 was 14.9 GWe. Top five countries in this area are the USA, Philippines, Indonesia, Turkey and New Zealand. Total direct use of geothermal energy in the world with the same reference is higher than 70.000 MWt as of the year 2018. Top 5 countries indirect usage applications are the USA, China, Sweden, Belarus and Norway.
Geothermal resource explorations had been started at 1962 by MTA and brought up to date with 287.5 ° C temperature with scientific researches that conducted also by MTA.
Geothermal exploration activities have been accelerated and increased from 2.000 m to 28.000 m and the budget for geothermal exploration has been increased 10 times. Since 2005, the development of existing geothermal resources initiated and began to search for new potential areas. As the end of 2004, the available heat capacity of 3.100 MWt increased to 5.000 MWt by an additional 1.900 MWt heat energy. 173 discovered geothermal fields reached to 239 fields which 10 of them are suitable for electricity production. So far, total of 634 drillings with total of 412.250 meters of depth and approximately 5.000 MWt of heat energy (including natural springs) obtained from these wells.
In 2008, in conjunction with Geothermal Resources and Natural Mineralized Waters Law, the private sector began to introduce development and investment of geothermal projects also. In conjunction with this development, the country’s total geothermal heat capacity (visible amount of heat) reached to 35.500 MWt.
Source: Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources /Link: https://www.enerji.gov.tr/en-US/Pages/Geothermal
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