Turkey discovers 1.8 billion tons of lignite reserves

ANKARA – Anatolia News Agency

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The Energy and Natural Resources Ministry has discovered 1.8 billion tons of lignite reserves, enough to fuel a thermal power station generating 5,000 megawatts of electricity for 30 to 40 years, in a Central Anatolian province.

Lignite reserves were found in Konya’s Karapınar neighborhood after extensive research carried out over four years by the General Directorate of Mineral Research and Exploration (MTA), which works under the Energy Ministry, Energy Minister Taner Yıldız said Jan. 25 in an interview with Anatolia news agency.

“We’ve found 1.8 billion tons of lignite reserves in Karapınar. We’ve observed that this capacity might increase. We also plan to conduct reservoir work that would generate around 5,000 megawatts of electricity by doubling Atatürk Dam’s generation,” said Yıldız. The minister also said they expected an investment worth between $7 billion and $8 billion.

New reserves discovered

In his speech the minister also touched on the fact that Turkey had previously signed a landmark deal with the United Arab Emirates to develop coal fields in the southeastern province of Kahramanmaraş’s Afşin-Elbistan neighborhood. The giant project, worth nearly $12 billion, will generate 8,000 megawatts of electricity. He recommended that investors who missed out on the Afşin-Elbistan project should wait for the new coal reserves in Eskişehir, which will be announced soon.

The government aims to create an energy sector within the next few years that will use local resources to compete with imported resources, Yıldız said, adding that the incentives for the generation of electricity from local coal reserves will also be announced by Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan.