Turkey is embracing coal. With 50,000MW of new coal installations proposed, it would rank first among OECD countries and fourth in the world behind China, India and Russia. But new research by Bloomberg New Energy Finance and funded by the European Climate Foundation shows investment in renewables is a cost-comparable alternative to coal, would cut down on emissions and still meet the country’s growing power demand by 2030.
The study: Turkey’s Changing Power Markets estimates that producing the electricity Turkey needs through 2030 with investment in wind, solar and hydroelectric would cost just over $400bn, roughly the same as with a coal-led strategy. Tolga BaÅŸtak, CEO of WWF-Turkey which commissioned the study, said: “There are no valid reasons for Turkey not to choose sustainable use of clean energy for meeting its increasing power demand… As a start, Turkey needs to ramp up its renewable energy target to 50% by 2030.”
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