Coal
In 2007, total primary energy consumption of our country was 106 million tons equivalent of petroleum (TEP). In energy consumption, coal has a significant share of 28%.
Lignite is a type of coal which is usually placed at the bottom of the coal list since it has low heating value, and high ash and humidity content, and is typically used as fuel for thermal power plants. Nevertheless it is an energy raw material that is used frequently due to its abundance in the earth's crust. Hard coal is classified as a high-calorie coal. Of our domestic resource potential, 10,4 billion tons is lignite, and 1,33 billion tons is hard coal.
At world scale, we are a middle-level country in terms of lignite reserves and production amounts, and lower-level in hard coal. Having about 1,6% of world's total lignite reserves, Turkey's total lignite reserve is at 8,3 billion tons. Yet exploitable reserves are at 3,9 billion tons. Furthermore, having a low heating value, majority of our lignite is typically used at thermal power plants.
Of the 33 million tons of coal sold in 2008, 82% went to thermal power plants, and 12% went to heating and industry. As of the end of 2008, installed power of lignite-based thermal power plants in our country is 8.110 MW, which corresponds to 19,4% of our total installed power. Contribution of coal to total installed power is 10.097 MW, which corresponds to 24,1% of our total installed power. Installed power of our hard coal based thermal power plants is 335 MW, which corresponds to 0,8% of our total installed power.
While Turkey has a very limited production of natural gas and petroleum, we have around 8,3 billion tons of lignite reserves. Of this lignite reserves, around 46% is in Afsin-Elbistan basin. Turkey is able to meet 6% of its raw petroleum, and 4% of its natural gas demand from its own sources.
Out of coal reserves, 297 trillion tons (32%) are in Asia Pacific countries, 254 trillion tons (28%) in North American countries, and 222 trillion tons (24%) in Russia and the CIS.
Lignite fields are spread across all regions of our country, and the heating values of the lignite coal in these fields vary between 1000 and 5000 kcal/kg. About 68% the total lignite reserves in our country being of low calorie type, 23,5% is between 2000-3000 kcal/kg, 5,1% between 3000-4000 kcal/kg, and 3,4% above 4000 kcal/kg.
The most important hard coal reserves of our country are in Zonguldak and its vicinity. The total hard coal reserve in Zonguldak Basin is 1,344 billion tons, while visible reserve here is at the level of 550 million tons.
Considering asphaltite, vein-type deposits of economical thickness are found in Sirnak and Silopi regions. Conducted surveys and probes have yielded to 82 million tons of asphaltite reserves. 45 million tons of this reserve is visible. On top of that, it is estimated that there is a total bituminous schist reserve of 5 billion tons.
In order to meet the energy demand, which increased starting from 2005 in response to industrialization and population increase in the context of prioritizing domestic resources in energy production and reducing external dependency, efforts for discovering new coal fields and improving existing ones have gained impetus. In coal prospecting, the number of probes increased five folds within the last five years, which prospecting work by MTA yielded as of May 2008 to new lignite reserves of 2,3 billion tons in addition to the existing reserves of 8,1 billion tons.
TABLE 1: Distribution of newfound lignite reserves by regions, as of May 2008
|
Lignite Reserve Regions in Turkey |
Reserve Amount |
|
Afsin-Elbistan* |
732 million tons |
|
Elbistan* |
420 million tons |
|
Konya-Karapinar |
550 million tons |
|
Thrace |
498 million tons |
|
Manisa-Soma-Eynez |
100 million tons |
*Lignite from Afsin-Elbistan is within a lower heating value of 1000 to 1500 kcal/kg. About half of the total lignite reserve of our country is in this region.
2,3 billion tons of new coal reserve has been discovered. Work in this area is planned to continue at the same pace, and the amount of coal reserves is expected to increase.
Instead of using natural gas of external origin in electricity generation, it seems possible to increase our installed power by 10.000 MW by rapidly commissioning those lignite fields of ours whose reserves have been established, which are suitable for building a thermal power plant, and by adding new units to known ones.
In order to bring domestic sources of coal into economy, under initiatives for conditionally transferring to private sector those coal fields that are under responsibility of the TKI General Directorate for building power plants, 6 fields were opened to private sector within the royalty model for building thermal power plants with a total installed power of 1.400 MW.
Within a five-year period, TKI dispensed a total of 6,7 million tons of coal to poor families. 932.275 tons of coal were dispensed as of the end of September 2008, and 811.080 tons more will be dispensed by the end of this year, the total amount of coal dispensed being 1.743.000 tons at the yearend. In this way, two million families will be provided for in relation to their need for coal.
Source: Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources
