Carbon intensity has not declined in line with the drop in Turkish electricity generation over the last three years from high hard coal import costs, as natural gas power has ramped up to compensate for the shortfall in hydropower, according to a sectoral report recently released.
Turkey’s electricity generation fell in 2021 for the third successive year, marking an 8% drop between 2018 and 2021, the London-based think tank Ember said in the report.
In 2018, coal generation peaked at 113.2 terawatt-hours (TWh) and was followed by a decrease of 0.3 TWh in 2019.
Coal generation fell by 7.1 TWh in 2020 when five lignite plants were forced to close operations for six months due to their non-compliance with new air pollution limits.
Ember calculated that Turkey saw another drop of 1.7 TWh in coal generation last year due to skyrocketing hard coal prices while also marking a third consecutive annual decline in coal power.
The share of coal in total electricity generation was 37% in 2018 but dropped to 32% in 2021.
