Solar Energy

Being a natural source of energy, solar energy is the most popular one among sources of renewable energy.

Having a high potential for solar energy due to its geographical position, Turkey's average annual total sunshine duration is calculated as 2.640 hours (daily total is 7,2 hours), and average total radiation pressure as 1.311 kWh/m²-year (daily total is 3,6 kWh/m²). Solar energy potential is calculated as 380 billion kWh/year.

While varying considerably in terms of methodology, materials and level of technology used, solar energy technologies may be divided into two main groups:

• Thermal Solar Technologies and Concentrating Solar Power (CSP): In these technologies, whereby solar energy is used to generate heat, heat can be used either directly or for generating electricity. CSP power plants use different mirror positions to generate electricity by converting solar energy into high-temperature heat. Since they can be built at desired power ratings, they are typically used for powering signaling equipment, meeting rural electricity demand, etc.
• Solar Cells: Semiconductors which are also called photovoltaic cells transform sunlight directly to electricity.

Greatest disadvantage of solar cells is that their production is incredibly costly due to use of silicon crystals and thin film technology.

With the decrease in the cost of using solar cells and increase in their efficiency, solar cell dependent energy generation is expected to increase in Turkey. Furthermore, using Turkey Solar Energy Potential Atlas and the CSP technology, it is calculated that an annual production of 380 billion kWh is possible.

The amount of solar collectors installed in our country is roughly 12 million m² with a technical solar energy potential of 76 TEP, and annual generation volume is 750.000 m², part of which is exported. Such amount indicates that 0,15 m² of solar collectors are used per capita. Annual amount of solar-based heat generation is around 420.000 TEP. This data suggests that Turkey is a significant manufacturer and user of solar collectors among world countries.

In our country, installed solar cell capacity, which is used mostly in public bodies for supplying small amounts of power and for research purposes, has reached 1 MW.

Work in the area of solar and hydrogen energy holds a great importance for the energy future of our country including our defense industry and military use.

Source: Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources