Antalya, on Turkey's Mediterranean coast, is famous for its sun and beaches. The beaches bring tourists by the bus and planeload to the city, but now Antalya also wants to capitalize on the sun part of its appeal, by becoming Turkey's first "solar city."
Although Turkey could be one of the world's leading solar energy producers, the country lags behind many other countries in terms of its solar capacity, in large part due to government regulations that critics charge discourage the use of solar. But with minimal government assistance, the city of Antalya is embarking on what seems like a very ambitious program to encourage the large-scale use of solar in the city. Reuters has the full story here.
Turkey's plans to build at least two nuclear plants -- newly contested in the wake of the crisis in Japan -- are now also causing discomfort outside of the country. According to this report, both Greece and Greek Cyprus are planning to ask the European Union to intervene in the matter. It's not clear, though, what framework that intervention could take place in.
Could the impending nuclear disaster in Japan put the brakes on Turkey's plans to start its own nuclear energy program? That certainly is the hope of Turkish environmentalists, who are asking the government of the earthquake-prone country to reconsider plans to open up two nuclear plants. The green light has already been given for one plant, to be built by the Russian state nuclear power company Rostam on Turkey's Mediterranean coast. Discussions for the construction of the second plant, which would be located on the Black Sea coast, are ongoing with Toshiba and the Tokyo Electric Power Company, which operates the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan.
Turkish government officials have rejected any calls for stopping the nuclear effort. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, currently in Russia for talks that also include energy issues, was quoted as saying: "I am sure that the nuclear power plant to be built in Turkey will be a model for the rest of the world. We can't drop joint projects because of earthquakes."
Reuters reports on Greenpeace's call for a stop to Turkey's nuclear plans and the Wall Street Journal also has more.
A dam near the southeastern Turkish city of Sanliurfa
Depending on which way you look at it, Turkey is either blessed or cursed with great hydroelectric potential. Based on the number of lawsuits local residents in Turkey's water-rich Black Sea area have been filing to stop the construction of dams in their area, it would appear that they don't look too favorably on Turkey's push to increase its hydroelectric capacity.
As the Turkish daily Radikal discovered in an internal government report on dam building, the Black Sea villagers have good cause to worry about the dam building. From an article about Radikal's report in the Hurriyet Daily News:
The ministry that approved hydroelectric power plants in the Black Sea region has admitted in an internal report that their construction damaged the environment in the latest blow to Turkey’s ambitious dam-building plans.
“Excavations … caused destruction in forested areas. Current flow and the quality of the water in streams are negatively affected as a result of filling the streambeds with soil,” said a report prepared by the body overseeing hydroelectric power plants under the Environment and Forestry Ministry and the State Waterworks Authority, or DSİ, daily Radikal reported Wednesday.
The internal report, written in 2009, only recently found its way to the media. It said 15 firms that built power plants in the Black Sea province of Rize had been fined a total of 513,000 Turkish Liras for causing environmental damage....
