Gas takes bigger share in Turkey's power as drought lowers hydro output

Drought in Turkey changed electricity generation dynamics since the fourth quarter of last year with the increased share of natural gas plants out of total generation replacing falling output from hydropower plants, data compiled by Anadolu Agency showed.

Hydropower capacity in Turkey has shown an increase of 80 percent over the last 10 years, representing the largest capacity among clean energy sources at over 31,000 megawatts, and accounting for almost one-third of the country's total installed capacity.

However, as the share of hydropower out of total electricity generation varies depending on rainfall, the average share of hydropower plants over the last 10 years has been 23.2 percent.

A hard drought in 2014 saw the water level reach the lowest at 29.6 billion cubic meters (bcm), in contrast to the highest in 2019 at 81.6 bcm, according to data of the Hydroelectric Power Plants Industry Businessmen's Association.

The share of hydropower plants out of total electricity generation in 2014 amounted to 16 percent and in 2019 jumped to 29.2 percent, data from investment and consultancy company, APLUS Energy, showed.

In 2014, natural gas plants compensated for lower output from hydropower plants, generating 48 percent out of the total, but with heavy rainfall in 2019 when hydropower generation was at its highest, this share dropped to 18 percent.

Volkan Yiğit, a partner at APLUS Energy, told Anadolu Agency that the average share of coal plants in Turkey's total electricity generation was 31.9 percent in the last decade, with natural gas plants reaching 35.2 percent, hydropower plants at 23.2 percent, and other renewables generating 9.7 percent.

He noted that the continuous increase in renewables capacity has ensured a...