Thu, 04 April, 2024
A new paper written by members of the GeoSmart project consortium has been made available online through Science Direct.
The published paper, ‘Opportunities and Challenges of Geothermal Energy in Turkiye,’ has been co-authored by experts from Middle East Technical University, the Turkish Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EMRA), and the European Geothermal Energy Council (EGEC) in Belgium, detailing how Turkey has used geothermal energy as an essential part of transitioning to net zero.
The authors conducted semi-structured interviews to identify the opportunities of geothermal energy use in Turkey, alongside an examination of the challenges, which included financial and political barriers along with, at-times, arduous permitting processes.
Despite the challenges, this paper shows how geothermal energy can provide nations with a sustainable and clean energy option to use as part of a wider energy mix. As a non-intermittent resource, geothermal energy has grown in Turkey, making it one of the fastest-growing adopters of this energy resource, particularly since 2010.
However, as investment has deceased in Turkey over recent years, this paper serves as a reminder of the benefits of geothermal while evaluating the diffusion of the geothermal energy sector in Turkey based on the Technological Innovation Systems (TIS) framework.
Despite financial and political barriers that still hinder the prevalence of geothermal energy utilisation in the country, feedback from respondents suggests that there is a huge opportunity to use geothermal in the green energy transition across Turkey.
Aligned to the environmental and net zero benefits, this paper also highlights how geothermal can aid economic development through increased employment opportunities and household welfare through combined district heating, electricity, and greenhouse usage.
You can see the published paper, in full, here.
The GeoSmart project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 818576.