Turkey's Geothermal Potential Enough to Meet 14 Pct of Energy Need

Jan 17, 2008 - Xinhua News Agency - CEIS

Turkey's geothermal potential can easily meet 14 percent of Turkey's heating and electricity need, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported on Wednesday.

Orhan Mertoglu, chairman of Turkish Geothermal Association, wasquoted as saying that "geothermal resources which can be used to generate electricity and for heating purposes are cheap, clean andrenewable."

"Turkey ranks the seventh in the world in the aspect of geothermal potential," said Mertoglu, adding that "Turkey has a potential to heat 5 million dwellings with its geothermal resources."

Mertoglu noted that Turkey could start using 20 percent of its geothermal capacity in producing electricity by establishing powerstations before the end of this year.

According to estimations of the State Planning Organization (DPT), 30 percent of Turkey's geothermal potential would be put into service before 2013.

Turkey would invest about 3 billion U.S. dollars in geothermal energy and get in return an annual profit of 16 billion dollars, it added.

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