What are Renewable Energy Systems? What are their advantages and disadvantages? What is the percentage of renewable energy in our country?

Renewable energy is energy that can be obtained from natural sources and constantly replenished by nature. Renewable energy sources have all the characteristics of accessibility, availability, and acceptability. Renewable energies can be specified as Solar Energy, Wave Energy, Wind Energy, Geothermal Energy, Biomass Energy, Hydraulic Energy, and Hydrogen Energy. Some of the benefits of renewable energy are;

• Unlike energy generated by fossil fuels, energy production will be continuous as long as natural resources exist.
• It does not cause environmental pollution (hydroelectric and geothermal power plants built in our country without due consideration for the environment and the surrounding communities are not included in this figure).
• Countries’ socio-economic progress (Natural gas, purchased for energy production, is among our country’s largest imports. By increasing our renewable energy resources, we can become more socio-economically strong. Numerous projects and investments are currently underway in this area.)
• Personal and institutional investments easily recoup their investment costs in the short term.

Besides the advantages of renewable energy, there are also disadvantages:

• Initial investment costs are high (thanks to ongoing R&D, costs have become lower than they were in the past and appear poised to become even lower over time).
• They are weather-dependent. (Solar energy continues to generate energy on cloudy and rainy days, and wind energy continues to generate energy when the wind is low, but their efficiency will decrease. Solar energy will not generate energy overnight.)
• If the fluid in geothermal power plants is not reinjected into the ground, it can cause environmental problems such as corrosion, decay, scaling, and surface water pollution.
• Biomass requires a high water requirement and has a low efficiency.

The figure shows the electricity generation data shared by TEİAŞ in October 2020.

Although our country is fortunate in its location for the use of renewable energy resources, only approximately 30% of the electricity produced comes from renewable energy sources. The goal is to generate 100% of the energy used in our country from renewable energy sources by 2050. It is anticipated that, with decreasing investment costs during this period, households will be able to generate their own electricity. Today, such projects are generally being implemented in vineyards, summer houses, and detached houses.

Energy conservation is as important as renewable energy for our world and future generations. Please be mindful of energy conservation and raise awareness in our future generations.