"Hydropower Could Meet More Of Turkey’s Energy Demand — But At What Cost?
Julia | April 5th, 2011 | Comment | Email this
A planned dam in southeastern Turkey would submerge Hasankeyf’s 10,000-year-old cultural relics and displace 50,000 people from the region. How many kilowatt hours is that worth?
Electric energy demand in Turkey is projected to more than double over the next decade, to approximately 450 billlion kilowatt-hours. Traditional sources of power, such as coal- and natural gas-fired plants, pollute the local and global environment and have forced Turkey to rely on neighbors like Iran and Russia. A new report by a consortium of hydroelectric producers, described in Turkey’s Today’s Zaman, points out that, so far, Turkey only uses one third of its potential hydropower. If fully utilized, it could supply more than 30 percent of the 450 billion kwH needed in 2020."
More:Hydropower Could Meet More Of Turkey’s Energy Demand — But At What Cost? | Green Prophet