Insufficient water for hydro-electric power gives natural gas greater importance in Turkey‘s energy mix. Turkey didn‘t receive enough rain last winter to fill its dams, which have a small capacity, making natural gas more important in filling the country‘s energy needs. The level of water behind the dams was insufficient to generate enough electricity for the country from hydro-electric plants, according to energy experts. This situation could cause natural gas to take the hydro-electric share in the country‘s energy mix, experts say. "Natural gas could take a 50 percent share of electricity generation because of the intensive use of natural gas, which would continue until the end of winter," said Harran University‘s Energy Department Professor Hüsamettin Bulut. "There isn‘t any problem except the using of sources. Installed capacity is enough to cover the demand of electricity." But he said that irrigation and excessive power demand from air conditioners could pose a problem this summer, and could even cause electric outages. Hüseyin Yeşil. board chairman of the Chamber of Electrical Engineers, agreed the mix of power generation would change, perhaps including more coal as well as natural gas. "Electricity was generated mostly from imported resources in 2013," Yeşil said. "Because of the problems of the supply in December of 2012, Turkey has generated 1.6 billion kilowatt hours of extra electricity. It also generated 2 billion kilowatt hours of extra electricity in November of 2013. Turkey consumed lots of water resources to generate electricity from hydraulic power plants and this summer there would be problems of generating electricity with water resources. Increasing the generation capacities of the current coal and natural gas power stations could a solution, also importing electricity and informing the public union could be other solutions to generation." In 2013, Turkey generated 44 percent of its electricity from natural gas and the rest from hydroelectric power plants, hard coal and lignite, according to the Energy and Natural Resources Ministry of Turkey. The country increased its electricity consumption by 1.3 percent, to 245,4 billion kilowatt hours. The forecast electricity consumption for Turkey for 2014 was 260 billion kilowatt hours, according to statistics from Turkish Electricity Transmission Company. (Euroasianews.com; 03.07.2014)
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