Hydroelectricity is a major source of electricity in Turkey, due to its mountainous landscape and many rivers. The country's main river basins are the Euphrates and Tigris. Over 700 hydropower plants have been built, and they make up about 30% of the country's electricity generating capacity. Annual generation varies greatly, [a] and in rainy years lots of hydroelectric power can be generated. Government policies have generally supported building dams, but some are controversial in neighbouring countries, and some raise concerns about damage to the environment and wildlife. [2]
In 2021, 56 terawatt-hours of hydroelectricity was generated, which was 17% of Turkey's total electrical generation, [3] from 31 GW of capacity. [4] According to analysts at S&P Global, when there is drought in Turkey during the peak demand for electricity in August, the aim of the State Hydraulic Works to conserve water for irrigation can conflict with the Turkish Electricity Transmission Corporation's goal of generating electricity. [5] Although Turkey's energy strategy may change in the future, due to climate change causing more frequent droughts, [6] hydropower is predicted to remain important for load balancing with solar and wind power. [7] : 72 However little new capacity is expected to be built, as the Energy Ministry says hydropower has reached its limit. [8] : 24 Converting existing dams to pumped storage has been suggested as more suitable than building new pumped storage. [9]
Climate change has reduced rainfall in some regions and has made it less regular, which has put stress on hydroelectric power plants. [12] Between 1979 and 2019 annual precipitation fluctuated from over 60 cm to under 45 cm, [12] and average annual temperatures varied by 4 degrees. [12]
Turkey is already a water stressed country, because the amount of water per person is only about 1,500 m³ a year: and due to population increase and climate change it is highly likely the country will suffer water scarcity (less than 1,000 m³) by the 2070s. [13] Little change is forecast for water resources in the northern river basins, but a substantial reduction is forecast for the southern river basins. [13] Konya in central Turkey is also vulnerable. [14] Charging for water used by agriculture has been suggested. [15] : 64–66In 2021, hydropower was the cheapest source of electricity in Turkey, [5] but the IEA expects only a small increase in hydropower by 2026, partly due to the competitive prices of wind and solar. [16] : 62, 63 Some academics, such as those at the Shura Energy Transition Center, say that there is limited potential for more hydropower. [17] In 2022, Turkey's energy ministry stated that there is "hydroelectricity potential of 433 billion kWh, while the technically usable potential is 216 billion kWh, and the economic hydroelectricity potential is 160 billion kWh/year." [18] In 2021, in comparison, 56 billion kWh was generated.
Due to climate change in the Tigris and Euphrates river basins, reduced precipitation is forecast, such as happened with the 2020 drought, [19] [20] [21] which caused a generation drop of over 10% compared to the previous year. [22] In 2021, partly due to the drought, generation by non-hydro renewables overtook hydro for the first time. [23] To conserve hydropower, solar power is being added next to existing hydropower, [24] such as at the Lower Kaleköy Dam. [25] Adding hydropower to existing irrigation dams may also be feasible. [26]
Hydropower usually peaks in April or May. [27] Adding pumps to existing dams, to store wind and solar power as hydropower, has been suggested as more feasible than building new dams with pumps. [28] Although dammed hydro can be dispatched within 3 to 5 minutes, [29] according to analysts at S&P Global, such generation instructions from the Turkish Electricity Transmission Corporation can be countermanded by the State Hydraulic Works, which may have contributed to blackouts in August 2021. [30]
The first power plant of any kind in Turkey was a 60 kW hydro plant constructed in Tarsus, which started operation on 15 September 1902. [31] [32] Feasibility studies for more dams were done in the 1920s and 1930s. [33] After the State Hydraulic Works (DSI) was established in 1954, major projects (such as the first large dams, the Seyhan Dam and the Sarıyar Dam) [33] had better funding, and significant quantities of hydroelectricity were generated for the first time. [34] Turkey built dams to meet its growing energy demand from rapid urbanization, industrialization, and population growth. [33] Between 1970 and 2019, generation increased by almost 10% per year, [35] and 2.5 GW was added during 2020. [4] In 2021, generation from other renewables exceeded hydro for the first time. [23]
Following the 1973 oil crisis, the government began the Southeastern Anatolia Project, both for energy security and to help the poorer southeastern part of Anatolia catch up with the growing economy. [33] Amongst other developments, such as irrigation projects, several hydropower plants were built. [36] By 1988, hydropower comprised over 60% of total electrical generation. Before that, coal had been the only other substantial source. Around the same time, natural gas also began to play an important role. [23] The Southeastern Anatolia project cost 190.8 billion lira (US$ 34 billion, at 2020 prices). [37] According to the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce, by 2021 this cost was recovered in the value of the electricity alone. [36] Almost 25% of the country's hydroelectricity is now produced by the project. [33] [38]
However, some Kurds have called the project "mass cultural destruction". [33] Most of the project has been completed, but at least one dam (Silvan Dam) and hydroelectric power plant are still under construction. [39] The project is controversial with the downstream countries of Iraq and Syria. [40] According to Dr. Arda Bilgen, the reduced flow of the Euphrates was one reason Syria supported PKK attacks on Turkey in the 1980s. [33] Since the Syrian Civil War started in 2011, international water cooperation has been very difficult. [33]
Since the beginning of the 21st century, private companies have been able to get long leases on rivers, [41] and DSI has mainly coordinated and supervised, rather than constructing its own power plants. [33] Particularly in the north-east of Turkey, small-scale projects were developed. Contrary to expectations, these did not bring about more consensus and local acceptance than large dams. [41]
The geography of Turkey includes 25 river basins, and generally those with the most potential for hydropower are the least populated. [41] The private sector has generally invested in run-of-river hydroelectricity, and the public sector in dammed hydro. [41] Private-sector water-use agreements are usually for 49 years, with minimum discharge flow of 10% of the previous ten-year average. [41] As of 2022 there are 730 hydropower plants [42] making up 31 GW of the country's 100 GW generating capacity. [31] The state electricity company owns 14 GW, while the only private companies with over 1 GW are Cengiz, EnerjiSA, and Limak. [31] In spring, water flow is greatest, but electricity demand is low and its price may consequently also be low. [41] Another 4 GW is planned for after 2023. [41]
The province with the most hydroelectricity capacity is Şanliurfa, with over 3 GW, followed by Elazığ and Diyarbakır, each with over 2 GW. [31] The highest dam is Yusufeli. [43]
The three longest rivers in Turkey also have the highest capacity hydropower plants, the largest being Atatürk Dam on the Euphrates. On the same river are the second and third largest. Ilısu on the Tigris is the newest large dam. In contrast, the Kızılırmak River, which flows north into the Black Sea, has smaller projects. Its hydro plants are less than 1 GW, the largest being Altınkaya. [44]
The dams and their hydroelectric power plants have had positive and negative impacts on the environment. One of the most useful features of hydroelectric power plants is that generation can be quickly ramped up and down, to meet demand and balance wind and solar. Compared to fossil-fuel power plants, the country's hydroelectricity emits much less greenhouse gas. Being a local source, it improves the balance of payments, since Turkey imports around three-quarters of its energy. [45]
As well as environmental impact assessment reports before construction, there are also water-usage studies and ecological evaluation; but according to a 2021 study by Melis Terzi, stipulations in the reports are sometimes ignored during construction. [41] : 74 The study also says that the legal requirement to provide fish passages has often been ignored. [41] Large hydropower plants may be bad for sturgeon, as in neighbouring Georgia. [46] In 2021, the Turkish company contracted to build the Namakhvani hydropower plant in Georgia pulled out after protests. [47] According to the Bianet newspaper, sometimes small rivers have completely dried out in summer due to hydropower requirements. [48] Fish, such as the kisslip himri, may be threatened with extinction; but this is unclear, as there have been no studies since 2014. [49] Sediment management is sometimes not up to the EU Water Framework Directive standard. [50] Turkey has not yet adopted the sustainability certification devised by the International Hydropower Association in 2021. [51]
In some areas locals are concerned that dams result in a decrease in nature tourism. [41] Like national energy policy as a whole, [52] decision-making for dam construction is centralized and not always transparent, which can lead to complaints by local people. [41] Tens of thousands of people have been displaced by reservoirs. [53] Archaeologists, such as Nevin Soyukaya, say that there has been disregard for the damage to ancient settlements, such as at Hasankeyf. [54]
Dams on international rivers, such as the controversial Ilısu Dam on the Tigris completed in 2021, can cause water shortages in downstream countries; to wit, Iraq and Syria. [55] [40] Although international protests stopped foreign funding of the dam, Iraqi protests could not prevent it being built with domestic funding. [56] There are also 14 Turkish dams on the Euphrates. [40] The Tigris and Euphrates are the main source of water for much of Iraq, and Iraqi academics say that Turkish dams on those rivers are damaging the environment of Iraq. [40] Although a 1987 Euphrates water-sharing agreement assured that at least 500 cubic metres per second would leave Turkey, for Syria and Iraq, [57] this assumed that the water flow would not be reduced. However, natural flow has been reduced due to climate change in Turkey, leading to real flow being less than Iraq's allocations in the agreement. [58] Hydropower projects on the transboundary rivers Kura and Aras have been criticised by local environmental activists and have also caused tensions between Turkey and downstream Caucasian countries, such as Azerbaijan. [59]
As of February 2022 [update] , the feed-in tariff (FiT – excluding domestic components incentive) was 400 Turkish lira (TL)/MWh (about US$29), more than solar and wind but less than geothermal. [60] However, in late 2021 the government and private-sector energy analysts had already predicted that the day-ahead price on the electricity market throughout 2022 would be higher than the FiT for the first year, thus resulting in a negative contract for difference. [60] By late March 2022, the spot price of electricity had reached the ceiling (thrice the average price over the past 12 months) of 1745 TL (more than US$115), [61] and the energy ministry was reported to be considering different ceiling prices for different sources of electricity. [62] It is not yet known what the ceiling price of hydroelectricity will be, or even if such a scheme will actually be legislated. Because transmission congestion of run-of-river can cause price imbalances, zonal pricing has been proposed. [63] As of November 2022 [update] 10 hydropower stations are eligible for capacity mechanism payments. [64]
Many dams were built by Republican People's Party governments in the 20th century. However, the party's current stance on hydropower is unclear. Its 2018 general election manifesto did not mention it, and the party has opposed many recent dam projects, mostly due to environmental concerns. [65] The Justice and Development Party, which has been in power nationwide since 2002 (in coalition with the Nationalist Movement Party since 2016), has also built many dams and encouraged private companies to build run-of-river hydro. According to its party platform, the Good Party "supports the utilization of local and renewable resources to their fullest extent", which includes hydropower. [66] The Peoples' Democratic Party, in contrast, is more opposed to hydroelectric plants due to their impact on communities and environments. [67] Arda Bilgen, a Turkish academic, says that since the 1960s the central government (inspired primarily by the United States Bureau of Reclamation) has used dam building to strengthen the central government's hold over Eastern and Southeastern Anatolia, to help grow these regions' economies, using a top-down approach. [33]
Turkey was one of three countries that voted against the 1997 UN Watercourses Convention, which is the main international freshwater law. According to Nareg Kuyumjian at the Environmental Law Institute, this was because Turkey benefited from "hydroanarchy". [59]
Hydropower, also known as water power, is the use of falling or fast-running water to produce electricity or to power machines. This is achieved by converting the gravitational potential or kinetic energy of a water source to produce power. Hydropower is a method of sustainable energy production. Hydropower is now used principally for hydroelectric power generation, and is also applied as one half of an energy storage system known as pumped-storage hydroelectricity.
Small hydro is the development of hydroelectric power on a scale suitable for local community and industry, or to contribute to distributed generation in a regional electricity grid. Exact definitions vary, but a "small hydro" project is less than 50 megawatts (MW), and can be further subdivide by scale into "mini" (<1MW), "micro" (<100 kW), "pico" (<10 kW). In contrast many hydroelectric projects are of enormous size, such as the generating plant at the Three Gorges Dam at 22,500 megawatts or the vast multiple projects of the Tennessee Valley Authority.
Pumped-storage hydroelectricity (PSH), or pumped hydroelectric energy storage (PHES), is a type of hydroelectric energy storage used by electric power systems for load balancing. A PSH system stores energy in the form of gravitational potential energy of water, pumped from a lower elevation reservoir to a higher elevation. Low-cost surplus off-peak electric power is typically used to run the pumps. During periods of high electrical demand, the stored water is released through turbines to produce electric power.
Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower. Hydropower supplies 15% of the world's electricity, almost 4,210 TWh in 2023, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and also more than nuclear power. Hydropower can provide large amounts of low-carbon electricity on demand, making it a key element for creating secure and clean electricity supply systems. A hydroelectric power station that has a dam and reservoir is a flexible source, since the amount of electricity produced can be increased or decreased in seconds or minutes in response to varying electricity demand. Once a hydroelectric complex is constructed, it produces no direct waste, and almost always emits considerably less greenhouse gas than fossil fuel-powered energy plants. However, when constructed in lowland rainforest areas, where part of the forest is inundated, substantial amounts of greenhouse gases may be emitted.
Run-of-river hydroelectricity (ROR) or run-of-the-river hydroelectricity is a type of hydroelectric generation plant whereby little or no water storage is provided. Run-of-the-river power plants may have no water storage at all or a limited amount of storage, in which case the storage reservoir is referred to as pondage. A plant without pondage is subject to seasonal river flows, so the plant will operate as an intermittent energy source. Conventional hydro uses reservoirs, which regulate water for flood control, dispatchable electrical power, and the provision of fresh water for agriculture.
Brazil is the 7th largest energy consumer in the world and the largest in South America. At the same time, it is an important oil and gas producer in the region and the world's second largest ethanol fuel producer. The government agencies responsible for energy policy are the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME), the National Council for Energy Policy (CNPE), the National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels (ANP) and the National Agency of Electricity (ANEEL). State-owned companies Petrobras and Eletrobras are the major players in Brazil's energy sector, as well as Latin America's.
The Baihetan Dam is a large hydroelectric dam on the Jinsha River, an upper stretch of the Yangtze River in Sichuan and Yunnan provinces, in southwest China. The dam is a 289-meter-tall double-curvature arch dam with a crest elevation of 827 m, and a width of 72 m at the base and 13 m at the crest. It is considered to be the last large hydropower project in China after a series of projects starting with the Three Gorges Dam. It is also the second largest hydropower plant in the world. The hydropower station is equipped with 16 hydro-generating units each having a capacity of 1 billion Watts, the world's largest turbines. All hydro-generating units of the Baihetan hydropower station became fully operational on 20 December 2022.
According to the International Hydropower Association, Canada is the fourth largest producer of hydroelectricity in the world in 2021 after the United States, Brazil, and China. In 2019, Canada produced 632.2 TWh of electricity with 60% of energy coming from Hydroelectric and Tidal Energy Sources).
Hydroelectricity is, as of 2019, the second-largest renewable source of energy in both generation and nominal capacity in the United States. In 2021, hydroelectric power produced 31.5% of the total renewable electricity, and 6.3% of the total U.S. electricity.
India is 5th globally for installed hydroelectric power capacity. As of 31 March 2020, India's installed utility-scale hydroelectric capacity was 46,000 MW, or 12.3% of its total utility power generation capacity. Additional smaller hydroelectric power units with a total capacity of 4,683 MW have been installed. India's hydroelectric power potential is estimated at 148,700 MW at 60% load factor. In the fiscal year 2019–20, the total hydroelectric power generated in India was 156 TWh with an average capacity factor of 38.71%.
As of 2018, hydroelectric power stations in the United Kingdom accounted for 1.87 GW of installed electrical generating capacity, being 2.2% of the UK's total generating capacity and 4.2% of UK's renewable energy generating capacity. This includes four conventional hydroelectric power stations and run-of-river schemes for which annual electricity production is approximately 5,000 GWh, being about 1.3% of the UK's total electricity production. There are also four pumped-storage hydroelectric power stations providing a further 2.8 GW of installed electrical generating capacity, and contributing up to 4,075 GWh of peak demand electricity annually.
Hydroelectricity is the second most important renewable energy source after solar energy in Japan with an installed capacity of 50.0 gigawatt (GW) as of 2019. According to the International Hydropower Association Japan was the world's sixth largest producer of hydroelectricity in 2020. Most of Japanese hydroelectric power plants are pumped-storage plants. Conventional hydropower plants account for about 20 GW out of the total installed capacity as of 2007.
Thailand has set targets and policies for the development of its energy sector for 2035, with priority being given to indigenous renewable energy resources, including hydropower.
Renewables supply a quarter of energy in Turkey, including heat and electricity. Some houses have rooftop solar water heating, and hot water from underground warms many spas and greenhouses. In parts of the west hot rocks are shallow enough to generate electricity as well as heat. Wind turbines, also mainly near western cities and industry, generate a tenth of Turkey’s electricity. Hydropower, mostly from dams in the east, is the only modern renewable energy which is fully exploited. Hydropower averages about a fifth of the country's electricity, but much less in drought years. Apart from wind and hydro, other renewables; such as geothermal, solar and biogas; together generated almost a tenth of Turkey’s electricity in 2022. Over half the installed capacity for electricity generation is renewables.
Turkey uses more electricity per person than the global average, but less than the European average, with demand peaking in summer due to air conditioning. Most electricity is generated from coal, gas and hydropower, with hydroelectricity from the east transmitted to big cities in the west. Electricity prices are state-controlled, but wholesale prices are heavily influenced by the cost of imported gas.
Hydroelectricity is currently China's largest renewable energy source and the second overall after coal. According to the International Hydropower Association, China is the worlds largest producer of hydroelectricity as of 2021. China's installed hydroelectric capacity in 2021 was 390.9 GW, including 36.4 GW of pumped storage hydroelectricity capacity, up from 233 GW in 2011. That year, hydropower generated 1,300 TWh of power, an increase of 68 TWh over 2018 when hydropower generated 1,232 TWh of power, accounting for roughly 18% of China's total electricity generation.