Energy Markets and Policies II: Renewable Energy Markets

The sun is the primary source of all kinds of energy.

Most global energy demand is met from primary energy sources such as oil, natural gas, liquid petroleum gas, coal, and wood.

Renewable energy is provided from the available energy stream in constant natural processes. A renewable energy source is described as the capacity to refresh itself at a proportion equivalent to the energy retrieved from the source and faster than the source’s consuming ratio.

The proliferation of renewable energy technologies in developed and developing countries creates significant employment opportunities in these sectors. The second advantage is that they cause less or no air and environmental pollution compared to fossil fuels. Moreover, Renewable energy technologies can quickly provide energy access to areas where energy access is cut off in regions where earthquakes, floods, and hurricanes occur. Delivering electrical energy to small islands and rural areas in geographically challenging regions takes a lot of work. Meeting the energy needs of these regions with renewable energy technologies provides excellent convenience. In addition, using these energy sources will reduce dependence on fossil fuels.

Sustainable development can be explained as keeping the resources that society uses to meet its current needs in a way that does not exclude the use of future generations. This definition shows that sustainable development has three critical dimensions: economic, social, and environmental.

Renewable energy sources can be categorized into six primary headings. The most well-known sources are solar, wind, geothermal, biomass, hydrogen, and water-based energy types.

The water-based renewable energy sources include hydro energy, wave energy, tidal energy, ocean energy and flow energy

Thermic energy generation is the first as the rate of 54% in Türkiye in the year of 2023.

The top renewable energy producers in 2021 were the US (624.5 TWh), Germany, Brazil, the UK, and Spain. Türkiye ranked 8th with 62.7 TWh.

Solar energy is preferred because it is an abundant, inexhaustible and a renewable energy source. It does not create waste such as carbon monoxide, sulfur, or radiation, and can be easily applied in every region because its technology is simple and its operating cost is relatively low. Also, it is not affected by foreign dependence on energy and bilateral country crises and solar energy can be used everywhere. In addition, the development of solar cell technology offers the opportunity for many different usage areas such as housing, workplaces, rural areas, agriculture and industry, transportation, communication, signalling, and automation as a heat and light source.

Türkiye needs to turn having solar potential advantage into an opportunity. Because there is a severe burden on the budget due to energy imports, to expand the use of renewable energy sources, especially solar energy, incentives and R&D investments should be increased to create and disseminate the necessary national technology. In this way, energy costs will be reduced, and the essential costs for environmental and health problems will not have to be incurred.

Because she has a significant advantage and achievement to gain energy and decrease the budget deficit due to the energy import.

The primary disadvantages of wind energy include regional variability and local variations due to factors such as differences in wind speed and intensity Additionally, wind energy entails high initial investment costs, impact on electromagnetic waves, and risks to bird deaths.

Tidal energy is generated by rotating turbines to generate electricity from the kinetic energy in the water flow rate due to high and low tides under the influence of the moon’s gravity.

China has been the largest hydropower-producing country regarding production, capacity, and new developments since 1996.

Atatürk Dam in Şanlıurfa has the largest hydroelectric production plant in Türkiye.

Geothermal energy is obtained from underground hot water, steam, and gas leaking to the surface of the Earth. The underground hot water, gas, and steam pass through the turbines and convert the high temperature into electrical energy.

Indonesia increased geothermal energy production by 70% in 2013-2021 and produced 2286 MW of geothermal energy as having highest rate in the world.

Oilseed plants, sugar and starch plants, fiber plants and vegetable residues are agricultural biomass resources.

China, Brazil and the US are the countries that produce the most bioenergy respectively in 2021