Gas storage facilities to build more renewables capacity

ISTANBUL

Wind and solar power are supplying energy to Türkiye’s large and crucial Silivri and Lake Tuz natural gas storage facilities.

The Silivri natural gas facility has a 4.2 megawatts wind power plant, which provides all the electricity the facility consumes, according to a statement by the Energy and Natural Resources Ministry.

Work is underway to build another 4.2 megawatts wind power plant at the natural gas storage facility, the statement added. The construction of the new power plant is expected to be completed by the end of this year.

When the new power plant comes online, the installed wind power capacity at the Silivri natural gas storage facility will increase to 8.4 megawatts.

The Lake Tuz natural gas storage facility is powered by solar energy.

It has a 3 megawatts solar power plant, which meets the storage facility’s entire energy needs.

Officials have begun work to construct another solar power plant with a 30 MWe, which will boost Lake Tuz’s installed solar power capacity to 33MWe.

The Silivri and Lake Tuz facilities currently have the capacity to store 4.6 billion cubic meters and 1.2 billion cubic meters of natural gas.

Earlier this month, Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar announced that Türkiye will boost its natural gas storage capacity to 12 billion cubic meters by 2028 with capacity expansions at those key facilities.

The capacity at the Lake Tuz storage facility will increase first to 3.5 billion cubic meters and eventually to 5.4 billion cubic meters by 2028, the minister said, adding that the storage capacity at the Silivri facility will rise to 6 billion over the same period.