TURKEY'S GEOTHERMAL ENERGY POTENTIAL AND EXPLORATION STUDIES

Geothermal Energy is a domestic underground resource that is renewable, clean, inexpensive, and environmentally benign. Because of its geological and geographical location on an active tectonic band, our country ranks high among the global countries in terms of geothermal resources. There are over 1000 natural outflows dispersed around in our country containing a variety of geothermal resources at various temperatures.

Our country has a significant geothermal potential, with 78 percent of potential areas in Western Anatolia, 9 percent in Central Anatolia, 7 percent in the Marmara Region, 5 percent in Eastern Anatolia, and 1% in other regions. 90% of our geothermal resources are low and medium temperature, appropriate for direct uses (heating, thermal tourism, various industrial applications, etc.), while 10% are ideal for indirect applications (heating, thermal tourism, various industrial applications, etc). (electric power generation).

 

Identified Geothermal Resource Areas

Fields Heated with Geothermal Resources

 

Geothermal Fields with Greenhouses

The usage of geothermal resources is widespread. Electricity generation from geothermal energy obtained in our country, heating (greenhouse and homes), thermal and health tourism, industrial mineral extraction, fishing, drying, and other activities are now utilized in these domains. The Kızıldere Power Plant, which was developed by the General Directorate of MTA and has a power of 0.5 Mwe, was the first electricity generator in Geothermal Energy in 1975.

According to data from the end of 2018, the world's installed geothermal energy capacity is 14.9 GWe. The United States, the Philippines, Indonesia, Turkey, and New Zealand are the top five countries in terms of geothermal energy electricity generation. Non-electrical use has surpassed 70,000 MWt, with the United States, China, Sweden, Belarus, and Norway leading the globe in direct use applications.

The General Directorate of MTA began exploring and discovering geothermal resources in 1962 and high-temperature geothermal resources up to 287.5 °C were discovered.

The work on geothermal energy exploration, which had come to a halt due to policies established from the 1990s to 2004, has been increased and the allocations to the MTA General Directorate for geothermal energy explorations has been doubled from 2,000 to 28,000 m.

Due to the development of current resources and the search for new resource regions, the usable heat capacity, which was 3100 MWt at the end of 2004, has climbed to 5000 MWt with an additional 1900 MWt heat energy growth as of the end of December 2018, thanks to the support of our Ministry.

MTA's total number of geothermal fields identified rose to 239, with the discovery of additional fields, 10 of which are suitable for energy production, during drilling explorations.

Ağrı Yolluyazı Drilling Activities (2018)

The geothermal drilling conducted by our Directorate near Hacıhalit Village in Diyadin District of Ağrı Province has been successful. A geothermal resource with a temperature of 72.6°C and a flow rate of 21 liters per second has been identified. As part of our Geothermal research and exploration studies in the “Eastern Anatolia Region Geothermal Energy Exploration Project,” well development and production activities in the geothermal exploration drilling near Ağrı-Diyadin-Hacıhalit village have been successfully completed. In the well drilled in the challenging climatic conditions of the project area, geothermal water was obtained at a depth of 2,750 meters with a temperature of 72.6°C and a flow rate of 21 liters per second. With these characteristics, the field appears suitable for geothermal greenhouse heating and thermal tourism activities.

 

2018 Elazığ Merkez Cipköy Geothermal Drilling Opening Ceremony (OPENING CEREMONY Drone Videoshot)

 

An example from the geothermal heat center (İzmir-Balçova).

Outside view of a modern greenhouse operated with Geothermal Greenhouse Heating..

Inside view of a modern greenhouse operated with Geothermal Greenhouse Heating

Examples from Thermal Facilities in Türkiye