| Keywords |
geothermal drilling, geothermal in Turkey, FIT, cost of geothermal drilling, time analysis, geothermal risk, geothermal energy law, |
| Abstract |
Turkey, a net oil and gas importer, has recently attracted considerable private investment in renewable energy including hydro, wind and geothermal in recent years. Geothermal exploration in Turkey started in the early 1960s. The first use of geothermal energy resource for heating purpose in Turkey dates back to the central heating system of Gönen Park Hotel in 1964. The first geothermal well, which has a depth of 540 meters and a temperature of 198 °C, was drilled on high enthalpy fields for potential power production in 1968. Taking into account of Turkey’s potential, the current usage is still far below from the expected level. Turkey has enough reserves to fulfill the heat requirements of 1.2 million homes by means of geothermal heat power. Analysts set forth the potential of Turkey as more than 1000 MWe to 2000 MWe commercially viable megawatts of geothermal, an efficient source with minimal environmental impact. However, considerably promising and progressing increase of geothermal usage in Turkey has been remarked from last two decades in heating and after 2007 in power. Number of geothermal wells drilled between 1963 and 2012 is around 850-900. The Turkish government has recently regulated the law of renewable energy, including geothermal energy, and has provided several incentives to encourage the market. Turkey issued a geothermal energy resources law finally in June 2007, and the law was enacted a year later in June 2008. Besides the current geothermal law, new amendments on the renewable energy law have already helped the geothermal projects development with the purchasing warranty. Based on these recent developments in geothermal industry in Turkey, it is clear that geothermal energy will contribute significantly to Turkey’s future energy supply. The Geothermal Energy Law in Turkey regulates geothermal resources along with natural mineral water resources and geothermal-related gases in terms of the procedures of ownership rights, licenses and their assignment or transfer. After the effective date of code for geothermal law (2007), the number of geothermal power exploration and drilling projects has started to increase. However, significant increase in deep and high enthalpy well drilling in Turkey has been observed after renewable Energy Law No. 6094 (the Amending Law) came into effect on 8 January 2011. The Amending Law introduced further USD Fixed Price incentives to encourage investments within; geothermal power - 10.5 US ¢/kWh for the first 10 years after the commencing of plants, purchase guaranty for the electricity generated. This paper presents the information about geothermal projects development in Turkey. It is specially based on drilling activities, statistical investigation of drilling activities; their success, rig rates cost and average penetrating rates. The case histories of drilling in Menderes and Alasehir/Gediz graben in Turkey are used to illustrate some of the concepts. Almost 148.000 meters, 63 geothermal wells, were drilled by Turkish Petroleum International Company (TPIC) In Turkey by the end of March 2013 by TPIC. |