Present Coal Potential of Turkey and Coal Usage in Electricity Generation

Total coal reserve (hard coal + lignite) in the world is 984 billion tons. While hard coal constitutes 52% of the total reserve, lignite constitutes 48% of it. Turkey has only 0.1% of world hard coal reserve and 1.5% of world lignite reserves. Turkey has 9th order in lignite reserve, 8th order in lignite production, and 12th order in total coal (hard coal and lignite) consumption. While hard coal production meets only 13% of its consumption, lignite production meets lignite consumption in Turkey. Sixty-five percent of produced hard coal and 78% of produced lignite are used for electricity generation. Lignites are generally used for electricity generation due to their low quality. As of 2003, total installed capacity of Turkey was 35,587 MW, 19% (6,774 MW) of which is produced from coal-based thermal power plants. Recently, use of natural gas in electricity generation has increased. While the share of coal in electricity generation was about 50% for 1986, it is replaced by natural gas today.