A renewable perspective for sustainable energy development in Turkey: The case of small hydropower plants

Renewable energy resources provide a large share of the total energy consumption of many developing countries. Turkey's renewable sources are the second largest source for energy production after coal. About two-thirds of the renewable energy produced is obtained from biomass, while the rest is mainly from hydroelectric energy. Hydropower is today the most important kind of renewable and sustainable energy. In Turkey, most of the important water power plants have been developed; hence, only a modest increase in the hydroelectric generating capability can be anticipated in the next two decades. Turkey has a gross annual hydro potential of 433,000 GWh, which is almost 1% of world total potential. Its share is about 16% of the total hydropower capacity in Europe. The total gross electricity production of Turkey has reached about 140,283 GWh in 2003, 75% of this is produced from thermal sources and the reminder 25% from hydropower. The main objective in doing the present study is to investigate the sustainable development of Turkey's small hydropower (SHP) plants. Development of SHP began in 1902 in Turkey. Total installed projects capacity of SHP plant is 2.45% and the total energy potential is about 2.96%, which have installed capacity less than 10 MW.