No:44- November 2017
To reduce the share of imported resources in its annual 280 billion kilowatts of electricity consumption, Turkey plans to increase the use of domestic resources at local thermal plants to boost employment.
Thus, the energy basket will be diversified with renewables, maximizing the utilization of domestic coal resources in the most efficient way and boosting employment, Minister Albayrak pointed out. Speaking at a signing ceremony for the Zetes-Hattat Transformation into Domestic Coal Protocol between Hattat Holding and Eren Holding, two Turkish conglomerates with investments in coal and thermal power plants, Albayrak discussed the current figures concerning Turkish coal mining and the goals for the next couple of years, with emphasis on increasing domestic coal production.
"Over the last two years, domestic coal production has exceeded 60 million tons and neared 70 million. By the end of this year, Turkey will produce more than 80 million tons of domestically produced coal," Energy Minister Albayrak said, noting that the aim in coal production is to exceed 100 million tons by the end of next year.
The annual average of Turkey's energy imports hovers around $55 billion per year, including hydrocarbon imports with $45 billion and mining imports reaching $10 billion. To decrease this amount, which corresponds to more than one-and-a-half times Turkey's annual current account deficit, the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources launched a national energy policy, which stipulates the increase of domestic resources under the leadership of Minister Albayrak.
One of the important constituents of the ministry's strategy is more efficient use of domestic coal to replace imported coal. Referring to solar and wind power tenders, as the latter resulted in the lowest feed-in-tariff wind power across the world, the minister said that a process that aspires to reach 65 percent of domestic energy has commenced.
As a result of these initiatives, he said, energy production costs are declining with decreased imports, while productivity and efficiency is increasing. Turkey has taken steps to reduce the share of imported coal in today's electricity generation portfolio, which stands at around 30 percent, he said.
EMRA has analyzed international business models, technologies and regulations on fast and smart charging stations.
In preparation for Turkey's first domestically produced electric car, the first research phase to address new regulations for the required electric vehicle (EV) charging stations have been complete, head of Turkey's Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EMRA) said on Wednesday.
EMRA has analyzed internationally recognized business models, technologies and regulations on fast and smart charging stations. He also said that the method of payment in charging stations would be assessed.
"We are looking at the billing error probability in car charging process," he added.
In the second phase, public opinion and consultation with the sector's representatives will be sought on the new draft regulation when it is officially published on EMRA's website. Following this consultation process, the draft regulation will be published in the official gazette and come into force.
Last week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced in the capital Ankara that five automotive supplier firms -- Anadolu Group, BMC, Kiraca Holding, Turkcell, and Zorlu Holding would jointly manufacture Turkey's first home-made car.
Erdogan praised efforts to ensure that the mass production of its first car would be either electric or hybrid.
Turkey's fully electric and hybrid car sales increased by 805.6 percent to 2,763 in the first nine months of 2017, compared to 300 in first nine months of 2016, according to Turkey's Electric and Hybrid Vehicles Association.
This is Turkey's second attempt at producing its own car after its attempt in 1961 when it produced the Devrim (Revolution), whose production was halted after the first prototype was manufactured.
Quality assurance plays a crucial role in achieving a robust photovoltaic (PV) market that investors, policy makers and consumers can have confidence in, according to a report launched by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) on Friday.
The Boosting Solar PV Markets: The Role of Quality Infrastructure report was released in Santiago, Chile, at the Forum on Regional Cooperation: Developing Quality Infrastructure for Photovoltaic Energy Generation.
IRENA, the German National Metrology Institute and Solar Committee of the Chilean Economic Development Agency organized the event, which was funded by the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.
IRENA Director-General Adnan Z. Amin said that from this recent report through identifying success stories from frontrunner countries, the benefits of providing quality infrastructure services result in substantial additional revenues for PV markets and are essential for the continued expansion of renewables in the region and beyond.
"The implementation of quality infrastructure can enable an effective route to achieve policy objectives of renewable energy, as it has a positive impact in each of the stages of the technology lifecycle," the Director-General explained.
The report describes how a quality infrastructure can support the uptrend of newly installed PV capacity. This trend is expected to continue in the years to come as new markets in Latin America, the Middle East, North Africa and Southern Asia continue to expand. IRENA projects that by 2030 total installed PV capacity could range between 1,760 gigawatts (GW) and 2,500 GW.
According to the report, from less than 10 GW worldwide in 2006, installed solar PV capacity reached nearly 300 GW in 2016. More than 71 GW was added in 2016, with over 113 billion invested in solar energy technologies.
"However, comprehensive quality assurance requires physical and institutional infrastructure. This so-called Quality Infrastructure comprises the total institutional network and legal framework that formulates and implements standards," the report says.
It also includes testing, certification, metrology and accreditation.
Independent quality testing under engineering, procurement and construction contracts can boost PV system performance by 2−3 percent, one case study shows.
While attending the event, Chile’s Minister of Energy, Andres Rebolledo, commented on the role that the PV market is playing in the country. He said Chile is expecting a solar revolution as a result of the solar energy policies implemented in the last three years.
Article
Wind power distribution over the ocean
W. Timothy Liu, Wenqing Tang, and Xiaosu Xie
Probability distribution and power density of wind speed over global oceans are computed from eight years of QuikSCAT measurements. They describe the variation and higher moments of wind speed that are critical in relating the non-linear effects of wind on electric power generation capability, shipping hazard, and air-sea exchanges in heat, water, and greenhouse gases.
