Turkish club sets precedent for clean electricity

ISTANBUL

The 18 football stadiums of Turkish Super League clubs can generate solar energy equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of 35,000 households, Greenpeace Turkey has said in a new campaign.

“Clubs can reduce costs and earn income to enhance their activities by generating electricity via solar panels placed on top of the stadiums,” said Duygu Kutluay, climate and energy campaigner at Greenpeace Turkey, in a statement on May 16.

“Clubs have the opportunity to pioneer moves to make Turkey energy independent,” she added, calling on all clubs to “stand shoulder to shoulder” against climate change.

If all of the 18 clubs competing in the Turkish Super League install solar panels on the roofs of their stadiums, they would produce electricity worth 1.5 million Turkish Liras (about $247,470) which is equivalent to the annual electricity cost of 35,000 households, according to Greenpeace Turkey estimates. On top of that, the amount of carbon emission would decrease by 7,500 tons.

Antalyaspor, the sports club of Turkey’s Mediterranean province of Antalya, has already been one of the rare clubs producing and selling electricity. In its new stadium opened in 2015, the electricity of 1.4 million kilowatt-hours has been produced every year since then. The stadium transmits electricity to the grid circuit of the city for a fee, bringing nearly 900,000 liras to the club annually.

The total electricity production in the stadium puts Antalyaspor in the list of top 10 clubs generating solar energy in the world on par with British club Arsenal, Ajax in the Netherlands, and Brazilian clubs Cruzeiro and Atlético Mineiro.

The solar panels are installed on the 12,000 square-meter part of the stadium roof, which is as large as 16,000 square meters in total.

The solar panels will have paid for the cost of the installment in five years, according to the Youth and Sports Ministry’s prediction. Antalyaspor’s stadium has a capacity of 33,000 seats.