Turkey overtook Germany and Poland to become Europe’s top coal-fired electricity producer in June, and for the opening half of 2023 generated more coal power than Poland for the first time to emerge as Europe’s second-largest coal user behind Germany.
Turkey’s first-half coal generation was the highest total for the opening half of a year since at least 2018, and contrasts with steady declines in coal-fired power seen in Germany, Poland and elsewhere across Europe in recent years, data from Ember shows.
Emissions from Turkey’s coal-fired electricity output also hit a new half-year high in the opening half of 2023, topping 44 million tons of carbon dioxide and equivalent gases.
That emissions toll surpassed Poland’s 39 million tons for the same period, and elevates Turkey as a major source of coal pollution in Southern Europe that may soon eclipse Eastern Europe as the main hub for industrial emissions in the region.
Turkey’s steady climb in coal-fired electricity output is in line with its coal generation capacity, which has increased in 9 of the past 10 years to 20.49 gigawatts as of the end of 2022.
Since 2018, Turkey’s installed coal capacity has climbed by more than 9 percent, which compares with declines of more than 15 percent in Germany, 20 percent in Italy, 44 percent in Romania, and 14 percent in the Czech Republic over the same period. Even Poland, Europe’s most coal-dependent economy, has seen a modest net capacity decline since 2018.
Turkey is also forging a rare path by increasing coal’s share of its electricity generation mix, to nearly 36 percent for the opening half of 2023, compared with almost universal reductions in coal use elsewhere in Europe.
While Turkey appears to be heading down a lonely path in terms of increasing coal dependence, it has made important advances in clean power development in recent years, including a more than 80 percent increase in generation from wind and solar sources.
Indeed, Turkey’s electricity generation from all clean sources has risen by 40 percent since 2018, while generation from fossil fuels declined by more than 8 percent over that period.
However, electricity generation from natural gas accounted for a majority of the decline in fossil output, dropping by 18 percent from 2018 until 2022, due in large part to the spikes in global natural gas prices during that period and the recent disruption to gas flows following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year. – Reuters
