Power sought from waste

ANKARA - Anatolia News Agency

Workers are seen at a facility that generates power by processing waste in Ordu in Turkey’s north. Nearly 40 facilities have been granted waste licenses.

Turkey’s Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EPDK) has given 39 licenses to facilities that generate electricity from waste materials, said Energy Minister Taner Yıldız yesterday.

Turkey’s daily waste weighs around 50,000 tons, Yıldız stated at ITC’s Mamak Solid Waste Field and Energy Generation Facilities in Ankara, where he participated in the investigations. Yet the waste can be an opportunity thanks to facilities that recycle and generate energy from it, he said.

“We care about the facilities that generate electricity from waste. There are 39 that obtained permission from the EPDK. The facilities involved in this activity generate around 100 megawatts (MW) of electricity from waste, the rest under construction will generate 80 MW,” he said.

The power plants are slated to generate a total of around 200 MW, which could provide electricity to almost 500,000 houses. If they expand in the country, the target of 1,000 MW can be achieved, he added. Yıldız noted that it should generate energy from methane gas, which causes 21 times more pollution in the world than carbon dioxide.

The Mamak facility generates 30 MW of electricity from methane gas by decreasing 500,000 tons of carbon emission, said Ali Kantur, the CEO of ITC. They are focused on recycling and rehabilitation, which ensures the disposal of solid wastes, energy production from methane and other gases and recycling of packaging and excavation wastes.