Here you will find answers to frequently asked questions about renewable energy, geothermal power plants, wind turbines, and solar energy systems. Our experts have compiled this information to help you better understand the various aspects of sustainable energy.
The increase in the carbon dioxide rate, the greenhouse gas effect and the resulting global warming cause an increase in air temperature and drought. When geothermal energy is produced in accordance with the regulations, it doesn't harm the natural life in the region. Contrary to what is said, geothermal energy also increase agriculture activities. It is especially used in greenhouse cultivation and facilitates to obtain products in four seasons.
Geothermal Energy is produced from hot water sources deep beneath the Earth's surface. Since there is no smoke. What looks like smoke is actulally very dense water vapor.
Geothermal energy doesn't cause pollution if the legal requirements are complied during the generation of electricity from the geothermal source.
Geothermal Energy is a type of energy, produced from hot water sources deep beneath the Earth's surface and can be used as long as the earth exists. It is a sustainable, reliable, clean and domestic energy source. Geothermal power resources produce electricity, running 24 / 7, regardless of weather conditions.
The output of a wind turbine depends on the turbine's size and the wind's speed through the rotor. An average onshore wind turbine with a capacity of 4 MW can produce more than 12 million kWh in a year – enough to supply electricity to an average of 10,000 Turkish households.
Wind turbines can carry on generating electricity for 20-25 years. Over their lifetime they will be running continuously for as much as 120,000 hours. This compares with the design lifetime of a car engine, which is 4,000 to 6,000 hours.
Wind turbines start operating at wind speeds of 3 to 4 metres per second and reach maximum power output at around 14-15 metres/second. At very high wind speeds, that is gale force winds of 25 metres/second,with special softwares this limit can reach up to 34 m/s, wind turbines shut down.The annual capacity factor of conventional power stations is on average 25%-40% inTurkey.
There are many factors at play when designing a wind farm. Ideally, the area should be as wide and open as possible in the prevailing wind direction, with few obstacles. Its visual influence needs to be considered – few, larger turbines are usually better than many smaller ones. The turbines need to be easily accessible for maintenance and repair work when needed. Noise levels can be calculated so the farm is compatible with the levels of sound stipulated in national legislation. Then, the right type of turbine must be chosen. This depends on the wind conditions and landscape features of the location, local/national rules such as on turbine height, noise levels and nature conservation, the risk of extreme events such as earthquakes, how easy it is to transport the turbines to the site and the local availability of cranes.
A wind turbine is a machine that transforms the kinetic energy of the wind into mechanical or electrical energy. Wind turbines consist of a foundation, a tower, a nacelle and a rotor. The foundation prevents the turbine from falling over. The tower holds up the rotor and a nacelle (or box). The nacelle contains large primary components such as the main axle, gearbox, generator, transformer and control system. The rotor is made of the blades and the hub, which holds them in position as they turn.
When the solar facility is no longer efficient, the system will be decommissioned and the equipment removed, recycling everything that can be, and returning the land to the condition in which it existed prior to the installation of the solar project. Solar has a minimal impact on the land, unlike fossil fuel power plants. When the project is removed, the land is returned to essentially its original state.
Solar panels age with you, though at a much lower pace. It is usual to see a very small degradation in energy output with time which is due to the very nature of the solar module technology. Generally, annual degradation of modules is in the range of 0.3% to 0.5%.
The output of a PV power plant depends on many factors such as the facility size, plant layout, shading and system orientation, equipment quality and the solar Irradiation/ weather conditions of the facility location. A PV power plant with a capacity of 10 MWp can generate up to 20 million kWh in a year - enough to supply electricity to an average of 14,000 Turkish households. Since solar energy is renewable, a PV power plant of this size will reduce 20,000 tons of carbon emissions (CO2), which is equivalent to the annual CO2 reduction of approximately 120,000 trees.
Solar PV is a highly proven and reliable technology and have been in use since 1950s. A PV system that is designed, installed and maintained well will operate for 25 years or even more than 25 years. The Inverters, which are an integral part of a Solar PV system, may need a replacement once in the 25 years lifetime of the system.
The majority of solar energy, coming to our earth through the sun rays, is in the form of 'light' and 'heat'. A solar PV system uses the 'light' energy and converts it into electricity, which can then be used to run electrical equipment or charge batteries. A solar thermal system which is used quite often in Turkey's costal cities uses the 'heat' energy of the sun where a solar collector captures this heat or thermal energy and uses it to heat water or air.
Every PV solar power plant is site specific. Therefore, the layout and the design of the Solar PV system has to be determined after a thorough engineering analysis. In this analysis, things like the tilt of the solar panels, the gap between different rows of solar panels, configuration of the solar tracking system, any shadowing objects, specification of solar equipment, cable sizing, arrangement of solar panels, etc. go a long way in ensuring that the electricity generation is optimized for the next 25 years.
When the sun shines onto a solar panel, energy from the sunlight is absorbed by the PV cells in the panel. This energy creates electrical charges that move in response to an internal electrical field in the cell, causing electricity to flow. With complex electrical equipment and regulating devices, this flowing electricity is directly being fed to the Ukrainian power grid and distributed to the industries, rural network and households. In addition to PV panels , many solar power plants uses solar trackers to optimize the energy that will be produced from Sun. PV solar trackers adjust the direction that a solar panel is facing according to the position of the Sun in the sky. By keeping the panel perpendicular to the Sun, more sunlight strikes the solar panel, less light is reflected, and more energy is absorbed. That energy can be converted into power. Solar tracking uses complex instruments to determine the location of the Sun relative to the object being aligned.