By Firdevs Yuksel
ANKARA (AA) - Turkey has already superseded its 2023 target for geothermal installed capacity which prompted a revision up of the 2030 target to 4000 megawatts (MW), General Directorate of Renewable Energy (YEGM) chief said on Wednesday.
Speaking at the opening session of Geothermal Turkey Workshop and Congress, held in Ankara, Oguz Can, the general manager of the YEGM, said that Turkey had a geothermal target for 2023 of 1,000 MW of installed capacity which has already been achieved.
As "Turkey ranked fourth in the global geothermal energy league, in terms of installed capacity in 2017," works should continue without interruption, he advised.
"We, as the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, think that geothermal energy is a sector in which strategic and important developments need to continue,” Can explain.
He also added that in terms of capacity, the introduction and creation of new areas should be carried out systematically.
Can recommended that geothermal energy be used not only for electricity production but expanded out for the use in the agricultural sector.
YEGM is the sole governmental body in Turkey to develop policies and strategies in the areas of renewable energy and energy efficiency.
The Geothermal Turkey Workshop and Congress, organized by Turkey's Geothermal Electricity Power Plant Investors Association, started on Wednesday.
At the end of the two-day workshop, a report, which includes the analysis about the development of the geothermal energy market and the recommendations for the post-YEKDEM (Turkish Renewable Energy Resources Support Mechanism) period, will be published.
YEKDEM was launched in 2011 to use the country's vast clean energy resources efficiently and to support their development.