Wind power

There is an urgent need for skilled workers to meet the needs of Turkey's expanding wind energy sector, Nordex Turkey's General Director Habib Babacan told Anadolu Agency on June 23. 

The current labor force is not on track to meet the growing needs of the sector that has the potential to double the current workforce to 30,000 over the next 15 years, Babacan said.

Turkey has been ranked as the fifth-biggest wind power investor in Europe in 2020 with €1.6 billion, according to WindEurope's report on April 13.

The Financing and Investment Trends in the European Wind Industry in 2020 report said that investments in offshore wind farms hit a record €26.3 billion, while investments in new onshore wind farms reached €16.5 billion.

Turkey's electricity consumption increased year-on-year by 0.14 percent in 2020, according to data from Turkey's Electricity Transmission Corporation on Jan. 4.

The country's power consumption registered at 290.86 billion kilowatt-hours in 2020 compared to 290.45 billion kilowatt-hours in 2019.

Turkey ranks among the top five countries in Europe with its large-scale production plants for wind turbine equipment, the country's industry and technology minister said on Nov. 25.

Turkey hopes to make its domestic industry more competitive in producing both onshore and offshore wind turbine equipment, Mustafa Varank said at a virtual session of the Turkish Wind Energy Congress.

Experts are urging Greek authorities to suspend the development of new wind parks on Natura-protected sites, arguing that planned facilities outside environmentally sensitive areas are more than adequate for Greece to meet its targets. 

Greek companies have enhanced the dynamic international wind energy field with valuable innovations, especially at sea. Among these innovations is Floatmast, a floating tension leg platform (TLP) mast for offshore wind measurement, which is a world first.

The groundbreaking invention was awarded by the European Commission and granted 2 million euros in funding.

Wind energy output soared to new records in 2019 in Greece, with more new wind energy farms going into operation than in any other year, Hellenic Wind Energy Association HWEA/ELEATEN said in a report released on Thursday.
The increase was almost four times the annual average rate of the previous decade, raising the total power of wind farms to more than 3,500 MW last year.

Greece's Public Power Corporation (PPC) has launched Europe's second hybrid renewable energy park, combining wind and hydraulic power, on the Aegean island of Icaria.
The park is part of the utility's vision to turn many of Greece's off-grid islands into renewably powered ones.

Turkish wind energy installed capacity is expected to reach 8 gigawatts with an addition of 600 megawatts (MW) in 2019, Turkish Wind Energy Association (TÜREB) head said on Jan. 4.

Wind turbines, designed as an alternative to fossil fuels, still contribute to climate change due to the way they redistribute heat and moisture in the atmosphere, according to a study published Thursday, reports AFP.